Mateus rose

We are the Mateus Rose generation. Remember those strange shaped bottles with that distinctive label.

The wine wasn't even made there. The producer was a friend of the Count who let him use the picture and it became world famous. You can still buy the wine but it has disappeared from the UK supermarket students vocabulary. Along with Don Pedro, Hirondelle...........I'm showing my age :-)

A glorious morning sailing from Porto to Regua. Clear blue skies, a refreshing breeze and two dramatic dams to negotiate. After a lovely lunch we headed off into the actual growing region of the Douro Valley to learn about wine production. And to see the spectacular Baroque palace of Mateus.

With beautiful butterflies. A gorgeous Fritillary of some sort.

Sadly, this was against a backdrop of a raging forest fire and smoke and heat haze as the planes and helicopters battled.