I recently enjoyed 15 heavenly days at my German friend Ernst’s sizable villa in Frende, Portugal, a stunning estate that includes a heated swimming pool and, most notably, its own flourishing vineyard.
We ate some of the tastiest food I’ve ever had the good fortune to eat (including seafood, like those famously addictive Portuguese sardines) and dined at some of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to and drank copious amounts of magnificent wine at each meal. The 15 days I spent with Ernst in Portugal saw me consume more wine than I typically would over an entire year in Singapore!
I witnessed wine harvesting – complete with wine stomping and all – and gained precious insight into vinification and oenology.
We also enjoyed fresh, supersweet persimmons in Ernst’s vineyard – they were dropping on the grounds in ripen abundance like the lemons, pomegranates, limes, almonds and chestnuts in his estate, all pesticide-free.
We even roasted our own coffee and smoked, roasted and grilled lots of meat – pork and beef – of the highest quality – real topgrade stuff – and even polished off a bottle of vintage port from the year of our birth.
