Douro – Tasty tales
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This gigantic human achievement challenges and completes nature’s prodigies. Just the right place for a two-day break in the urban lives of scientist Alexandre Quintanilha, and writer Richard Zimler.
Strangely enough, the practical question with which we start this weekend, fits right in with the feel of the next couple of days: who’s going to drive from Foz, in Porto, where Richard and Alexandre live, to Pinhão, in the Douro? The unanimous decision takes only a minute. Amazingly enough, considering that we didn’t know each other and we all think that driving is not something to be taken lightly.
Half an hour later, Alexandre is the picture of calm at the wheel, which frees our spirits for unlikely exchanges and conversations. It’s the Douro that brings us here, but until we become absorbed by the landscape of the river and green terraced slopes dotted with houses and signs for winegrowing farms, we chat away.
The conversation could focus on how, for centuries, the people of the Douro have taken the schist rocks and built wonderfully geometric walls, how they planted carefully chosen grape varieties, how they pruned, cared for, harvested and finally trod the grapes, submitting the resulting must to so many delicate operations until the wine arrives at our table, infused with aromas and history. However, the topic of conversation is quite different, underlining the fact that impressive experiences are also made much the same way; in layers, which we enjoy running the gamut of our emotions. We’re actually talking about Jews born in New York, a subject that naturally ends up focusing on Woody Allen’s films, and all because of another subject that is no joke: a sense of humour.
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In good spirits
Cultural and social differences can cause great embarrassment to those who risk telling jokes before knowing where they are and who they’re dealing with: Richard, a Jewish New Yorker, and someone who likes to provoke others but also loves making self-deprecating jokes, knows Portugal well. The twenty years he’s lived in Porto, multiplied by the particular sensibilities that make him one of the greatest storytellers we know, allow him to judge when and how to play. In fact, humour is something he’s very familiar with – later he will tell us that this is the weapon he uses for the main character for his next novel, Strawberry Fields Forever (published next year).
On one of our stops along the way, the conversation is already about Richard and Alexandre’s entire lives. What is new, they say, is that they are thinking of getting married this summer. Alexandre explains: it’s not that this 31-year relationship needs a legal document to legitimise it. However, depending on the different moments in question, legal matters are important. In addition to this, each gay couple that claims this recently-won right in Portugal will make a crucial contribution to consolidating it.
We stop at the DOC restaurant. Out of the car, it’s surprisingly warm, but not too hot. Sitting at a table on the immense wooden deck, watching the shadows that the afternoon projects onto the slopes of the north bank, it would take much more than 36 degrees to cause any discomfort. We are introduced to Cristina, the wife of Rui Paula, the man who is the trademark of this restaurant.
A group of Turkish journalists are wandering around. It’s true: even cloistered among the slopes, consummated in so many curves of a route that was carved out by the river itself, which, in turn, was tamed by the dams along its course, the Douro reaches the world. Increasingly, it travels in bottles labelled with Degustação de Origem Certificada (DOC), but also in travel articles and in the memories of those who visit. “The A24 has made access from the south much easier, and we’re getting more and more foreign tourists”, says Cristina.
Endless afternoons
Richard and Alexandre had never been here before, but they’ll definitely be back. It is the same feeling (that of someone who has just experienced a remarkable revelation) that prevails in the early evening on the patio of Quinta da Foz, where there’s a wine tasting. Beforehand, however, we visit the premises, guided by José Maria Cálem and in the company of his two Golden Retrievers, Branco (white) and Tinto (red), who love welcoming strangers.
Among the various explanations, such as one regarding the advantages of maintaining the tradition of treading the grapes, Alexandre finds another that interests him, but for other reasons: PV, one of the wines produced here at this quinta, was the first to cover the lagares (vats) and use dry ice to prevent the grapes from oxidising. This chemical process and its effects happen to be a rather interesting scientific topic.
The old lime-trees provide a scented porch on the patio with a view of Pinhão. Comfortably seated, glass in hand, our guests’ attention returns to other subjects (not unrelated to chemistry but in another area). The talk is of life and death; ours and of our loved ones. And how the pain of certain losses can be devastating but often the cause of reencounters and discoveries.
From the large windows of DOC, where we return for dinner, we can see the night fall on the Douro and surrounding slopes, like some kind of blessing for our meal, which includes brie with three-pepper preserve, cream of green asparagus with scallops and mushroom ravioli in truffle oil, pork neck with black-eyed pea migas and corn bread. And, at next day’s dinner, which our guests enjoyed even more, there’s cod carpaccio with corn bread, capers and cod liver, brill in its own habitat, lamb carré with apple purée, apple pie with goat’s cheese and olive oil ice cream.
Retreat with a view
Come morning, we wake in the exceptional Casa de Casal de Loivos, where we can see the landscape classified as “one of the most beautiful in the world” by a BBC travel programme. While Alexandre tells me his thoughts on medically assisted reproduction (Portuguese law imposes certain restrictions: same sex couples cannot use this, for example), Richard has a swim in the pool. Later, in what’s left of the morning, Alexandre reads him the manuscript of his latest short story. Richard is in no doubt about his skill in this field. “He’s an intelligent and very emotional reader, and that’s really useful for me. Many readers resist emotions, particularly sadness and melancholy.”
And does he, as the writer, have the capacity to be moved by what he writes? Yes, he admits, but in a controlled way, because becoming immersed in sadness makes him unable to write. In fact, he finds energy in exasperation. He gets angry about injustices, and so he wants to expose them. “When I was writing Guardian of the Dawn, I felt the need, not for getting revenge on the Inquisition, but to reveal everything, so the reader knew. The image we have of Goa is a fantasy.”
Lunch is on a restored rabelo boat. The people at DOC call this a picnic, but the quality of the food and the service is still of the same high standard. Game sausage samosas, pastéis de Chaves, vegetable-stuffed mushrooms and veal stroganoff, which is all washed down with a sparkling Vértice, Quinta do Crasto 2008 red and illuminated by more tranquil stories. We drift slowly and the total calm is only interrupted by the occasional train cutting through the endless green of the riverbank.
The next day, we return home in grand style: lunch at DOP, in downtown Porto, means that our guests finally get to meet Chef Rui Paula, who explains the few bits that we are unable to decipher from tasting his works of art. Then, it’s time for the inevitable farewells. It was a pleasure. And see you soon, of course.
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by Fernanda Pratas
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