I have never until now taken time to consider the creation of a wave. To fathom the climatic and gravitational forces propelling salt water across sunken topographies so that it swells, rises, arcs and finally dissipates in powerful fits of foam. And this lack of prior attention feels like a critical failure now I’m standing — wetsuit plastered on, awkwardly gripping a sturdy beginners’ softboard — on one of Europe’s most famous surfing beaches.
A Pineapple Paradise In Portugal’s Azores: Herdade Do Ananas
31.07.2023 - 09:37 / forbes.com
Despite producing some truly delicious pineapples—and the only pineapples grown in Europe—Portugal’s Azores islands aren’t particularly well suited to growing the fruit. Which is why the third-generation owner of Herdade do Ananás (“pineapple estate”) has opted to diversify the family business.
Several years ago, Luís Dias turned his grandparents’ house into a boutique hotel. The diminutive pink building is now home to eight simply decorated, understated guest rooms—patterned tile floors in the bathrooms, whitewashed doors turned sideways serving as wall decor. Downstairs, the glass-walled dining room gives views onto the garden. The friendly staff wear pineapple-print shirts.
The owner prides his staff on “exclusive, personalized service. You don’t have stars for this kind of tourism. It’s something original and unique.”
Also original and unique are the property’s pineapple greenhouses—which are still very much used for farming—which have been repurposed into tourism attractions. One has become a wellness space. A warm pool is perfect for a soak in the balmy air of the greenhouse, or skilled local therapists can be called in to give water massages, or the dry kind on tables.
Other greenhouses are featured in a pineapple tour, which explores the madness of growing a tropical fruit on a subtropical island like São Miguel. Like many fancy things in Portugal, pineapples were brought back from Brazil. They soon became “the fruit of kings,” despite being difficult to grow here. They need to be cultivated in greenhouses, which are painted white on the outside every spring to minimize summer heat. Winter rains wash off the paint, but even so, it gets too cold, so the plants “sleep” all winter.
The labor-intensive process takes two years and requires multiple replantings in different greenhouses and occasionally bombing everything with smoke. Profits are variable. It’s unclear how much longer local farmers will continue with this madness.
In the meantime, Herdade do Ananás’s latest gambit is pineapple wine. “Nobody thought I should make pineapple wine,” says Dias, who has previous experience working with spirits. “No one else in Portugal is making pineapple wine. But chefs love local products and things that are a little bit different.” (So do diners.) “It’s out of the box. Young people want to try different things.”
I admit I was skeptical—bad memories of sweet “fruit wine” during my university days—but the wine, whose first bottling was released a couple of months ago, is surprisingly drinkable. It’s more dry than sweet, with a hint of pineapple rather than a wallop. It’s low on complexity and unlikely to age well, but it works just fine with grilled langoustines or the garlicky, chewy limpets that the
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