Portugese Vineyard - Herdade da Malhadinha Nova

So I did a bit of research before I went to Portugal and found what looked like a lovely vineyard about an hour drive inland from where we were staying. So as it was bucketing down with rain again, we thought it would be a good idea to head up there for lunch and a wine tour and tasting.

Herdade da Malhadinha Nova is set in lovely rolling hills countryside, (although we managed to go zooming past the entrance which wasn't very well signposted). We had actually tasted some of their wines at the wine festival a few days before and recognised the labels as soon as we arrived.

We were delighted to be greeted by a peacock's cry as we drove in. The restaurant was glass fronted and looked out onto the estate. The meal proved to be the best we had all week. The sweet waiter talked us through the menu and we choose some of the estate wines to have with our lunch.

An amuse bouche of tuna was our first nibble. It was delicious and the plate it came on was amazing. My main of mullet with an asparagus risotto was also delicious. My raspberry and white chocoate dessert was elegant and refreshing. Overall the meal was really good, and I am so pleased that we had lunch there.

We were then taken round the property in a Land Rover, which was fun. It was rather hard to hear our guide, and a microphone headset would be useful! They explained about the different grapes they grow and the overall farm (they breed horses and cattle too). They took us up to the boutique hotel which was lovely. It is on the Mr and Mrs Smith website, so that should give you an idea of what kind of place it is. The inside was beautifully decorated, and there was a spa and infinity pool which overlooked the farm. The bedrooms were decorated in a chic farmhouse way - the one they showed us  was gorgeous. It had 2 double beds (one upstairs and one downstairs) and was 350 Euros per night!

We then had a sampling of 3 different wines - which was free as we had eaten there. One of the white wines I had at lunch already and it was refreshing with high acidity. The red was pleasant but medium bodied with medium tannins, and not as good as some of the reds I had at the Wine Festival a few days earlier. I struggled to understand the guide a little bit as his accent was strong, and he didn't go into a huge amount of detail about the wines. I guess being a WSET student I wanted to know more than the average consumer!

We didn't buy any wine as we were leaving a couple of days later and had plenty back at the villa. But we headed back to the coast with tummies and hearts full, after a great day out...