The gardens with wine, Casal Santa Maria
At the of May I had the pleasure to visit the vineyeard Casal Sta Maria in our beach region, Colares - the Westernmost Vineyards of Europe. Between Almoçageme and Casas Novas, Penedo, sits the main house, originally from 1720, and its beautiful gardens. I was very well received by the enologist António Figueiredo who gave us a tour and explained the origins of the vineyards. Now, I quote directly from their bochure for a moment to resite the story of Baron Bruemmer, the 102 year old man who is still in charge of the operations: "To understand me better and why I came to Portugal one must understand a little bit about the reasons. I was born in 1911 in one of the former Baltic Russian Provinces, Livonia. In 1918 we had to flee to Germany and then to different places all over the World. I went to 15 different schools and, finally I landed in Switzerland, where I developed my professional life. Ever since we lost our home it had been my dream to start a new tradition for m