Photograph: DircinhaSW/Getty Images
Given the current interest in less familiar wine-producing regions, it’s surprising that virtually no one in the UK is stocking Brazilian wines. Well, it’s surprising to me, anyway. You might think – and quite rightly – that Brazil is more about coffee and cachaça; also, that vast swathes of the country are tropical or sub-tropical, which is not great for grape growing.
That said, Brazil is vast, and Rio Grande do Sul, an area to the south, is the centre of the country’s wine industry. Unfortunately, last month it was hit by devastating floods that have displaced more than 1.5m people, much of the state’s capital Porto Alegre has been under water for weeks, and at least 250 hectares of vineyards have been destroyed.
