Frei Grande 2008

I got this bottle of Frei Gigante in Lisbon shop specialized in Azores’ delicacies. It is definitely a girly wine: fruit, fresh and light. The kind of number that goes up to your head and makes you giggle in less time than finishing the first glass.

Long story for a delicious bottle of wine, thoroughly enjoyed with some friends. It was produced in the Island of Pico, in the Archipelago of the Azores. The inhabitants of the Island had to build walls with stacked basalt rocks to protect the vineyards from the strong Atlantic winder and sea water. The grapes that grown amongst this network of rocky cubicles have to be hand picked. Verdelho, arinto and terrentez are the only grapes permitted to grow in the Island of Pico. Needless is to say, that the production volume is quite small. Most of the wine stays in the Pico Island and only a few bottles make their way to the Continental Portugal. And this one, did an extra flight to get to Zurich.