If you were a teenager through the 60's and into the 70's in the UK, Australia, US and probably many other countries Mateus Rosé will hold a special place in your heart. It was the default wine for many of us. It was reasonably priced and it came in a distinctive flagon shaped bottle which, when empty, made an ideal candle holder.
How many Mateus bottles, complete with a candle and dried cascading wax adorned student rooms and flats through that era? Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, I'm sure.
It may well have been my refined taste in selecting a bottle of Mateus Rosé which impressed my girlfriend-who later became my wife -on our first date at the local Chinese way back in 1966.
I was somewhat surprised to find that Mateus Rose is still being produced and sold worlwide including here in Australia where it is marketed at the bargain price of just A$12. The distinctive dark flagon shaped bottle has morphed into another, but still distinctive, shape and the label featuring the Mateus Palace has gone. Shame.
The reason for my sudden interest to this link to my long distant youth is that, along with probably every other tourist who cruises the Douro, we visited Casa de Mateus-Mateus Palace.
The Palace still looks just like the wine label. The gardens are very attractive. The interior, complete with musty old palace smells, is pretty ho-hum although our visit was enlivened by a very droll commentary from the young guide.
At the end of the mercifully short tour we were able to sample the local drop. How does it taste? Well, let's just say that we both took a couple of sips and put our glasses back on the table without saying a word to each other.
As I headed back to the tourist coach I took a photo of the Mateus vineyard landscape complete with a line of barely visible wind turbines on the crest of the distant hills. A very contempory Portugese scene.
Leica Q3 43 photos
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