rich in portugal

Being Portuguese means you will talk about Port wine as often as a Canadian says 'Eh?', which is why I love finding articles in foreign papers about it like this one at The Age.

I remember when I was younger living in Portugal going to the "quinta" my family owned and eating the grapes and watching people get ready to make the wine. The vineyard was in the Douro region, and it was beautiful. It really is a great tradition, and it's nice to see other non-Portuguese appreciating the tradition and what it all involves in making such a special wine.

A wine of depth, concentration and majestic structure, port is produced from grapes grown on the steep, rocky slopes of northern Portugal's Upper Douro and its tributaries and was discovered during the 17th century when two British traders added brandy to preserve the local wine for an Atlantic sea voyage.

The pioneers of the port trade soon found that "fortifying" did far more than just protect the wine, it actually improved it, giving it the power to mature into something unique, transformed in the cool, peaceful wine lodges that huddle in the tight streets of Vila Nova de Gaia, across the River Douro estuary from Porto.

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Meanwhile, over at Portugal's richest man's (at least according to Forbes) corporate headquarters, they're planning a corporate takeover. Belmiro de Azevedo (that's his photo on the left), owns Sonae SGPS and put a US$12.6 billion bid to buy Portugal Telecom.

It's the big buzz across the Atlantic with all kinds of talk about it. According to Reuters, the CEO of Portugal Telecom considered it a "hostile" bid and it could lead to the breakup of the company.

Lots to talk about for sure, here's a snippet of the article in Forbes:

Cited as audacious, the bid sent shares in the telecom giant soaring 22%, just over the offer price as investors wagered on a ounterbid from the likes of Spain's Telefonica or France Telecom according to AFX newswire. All this from a company a quarter the size of the country's main telecom giant, biggest cellular firm and main pay-TV broadcaster.

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As for the soccer, here are the latest standings:

FC Porto - 45
Sporting CP -40
Braga - 40
SL Benfica - 40
Nacional - 39
Boavista - 35
V.Setubal - 33
U. Leiria - 28
Maritimo - 27
Rio Ave - 26
Académica - 26
E. Amadora - 26
Belenenses - 25
Gil Vicente - 24
P.Ferreira - 22
Naval - 18
V.Guimarães - 17
Penafiel - 11

The next round of play in the Portuguese league takes place from February 11th to the 13th.

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The place where the winningticket was sold to the Portuguese winner of EUR$61 million:

Bill Gates visits Portugal, and makes all kinds of promises. I just hope they pan out:

I don't know why I enjoy this photo so much, but either because I think the joke is about the guy in track pants or it's the look on Paulo Bento's face:

Until next time, I am...

Uma Portuguesa