The weather is on the turn. We had our first rain for weeks last night, just after a churrasco (barbecue) at the adega with achegã (so called ‘black bass’) fished by José Luís and Luís Garcia from the barragem on the quinta. Today it is much cooler and thundery and as I write this a strong and surprisingly cold wind is blowing across the serra. With the threat of rain we opted to pick as much of the remaining Trincadeira as possible. It seems to have ripened quite well, especially where the soils are deeper. On the shallower soils it has retained a slight herbaceousness characteristic of slightly under-ripe Trincadeira but we can’t risk it being spoiled by the rain. The adega is nearly full but with more rain forecast for tomorrow we will probably delay picking the Syrah until next week when cool clear weather is forecast.                      

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