Last week, I went to Porto, Portugal for the annual Essencia do Vinho wine show. Essencia do Vinho is one of the two leading wine magazines of Portugal and their annual show attracts over 20,000 visitors over the three days it is open to the public. 
 
The event takes place in the Palacio da Bolsa which is the former stock exchange and is a grand old building in the historic district of Porto. The event features over 350 producers and more than 3000 wines to taste, it's a lot!
 
Wandering around the show, I found a terrific sparkling wine producer, Quanta Terra. Their wine comes from the Douro Valley which is not traditionally a sparkling wine producer. Fine bubbles, dry yet refreshing, they are producing a fantastic sparkler atop the hills of the Douro. They use both traditional and international varieties for their production. The wines are not yet available in the UK as theya re currently looking for a districutor.
 
Ramos Pinto is one of the more famous Port houses from the Douro. I am always captivated by their art deco labels. They are very stylized and for me are evocative of a grand lifestyle. I chatted to their tawny port winemaker, Ana Rosas about what makes them so great and she believes that the 20 yr old blends are the best because they have a great balance of dried fruits, nuts and caramel. Ana recommends the tawny with soft cheeses or creamy desserts. I love it with a nice hunk of roquefort. 
 
To find out more about these producers and others I met, have a listen to The Wine Sleuth's podcast (that's me), you can download it on iTunes or podomatic, here are the links: 
 
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-winesleuth-podcasts/id501954974 

If you can't access itunes,here is the interview on podomatic:

http://podOmatic.com/r/DuiyQI