honey
We have a partnership with the bees, they are very hardworking and produce an excellent quality of honey. We are currently experimenting with new designs of hive to provide a more natural home for the bees.
A first at Fundo Meza—–this week the grapes were harvested early in the season and in collaboration with a Dutchman who is a winemaker in Chile, pressed to produce our first product—-Verjus. Verjus?? From the French vertjus or “green juice”, this nearly ancient (the Middle Ages) condiment was used in place of today’s lemon juice or vinegars. Modern cooks use verjus most often in salad dressings as the acidic ingredient—– when wine is served alongside. The mildly acidic, sour taste of verjus won’t compete with the wine or alter its taste the way lemon or vinegars will. It is sour, acidic, versatile and worth trying! Look for it in gourmet food shops.
We have 4 acres of certified organic ancient Pais vines, from which we primarily produce wine and agraz:
agraz/verjus
Our first product ‘Agraz’, also called ‘Verjus’, is a forgotten treasure produced from unripe grapes that are a by-product of the thinning process early in the grape growing season. It is a highly acidic grape juice with a real tangy bite – we have been trying it out in many different ways, from pisco sours to salad dressings and refreshing long drinks in the hot summer. It adds a delicate but intriguing twist to many dishes, kind of like vinegar or lemon juice, but much fresher, a subtler zing and very moreish. We have been doing some in depth taste testing trying many different flavours together – and we will post the combinations we love the most to give an idea of how to use agraz.
wine
TINTE is a natural wine lovingly crafted from our dry farmed and very old Pais vines. We give you the raw flavours of our varied soil and nature’s yeast with nothing added to the organic grapes from vineyard to bottle. TINTE allows us to share with you the beauty and integrity of the land here at Fundo Meza.
olive oil
We have 8300 young olive trees made up of a combination of three different varieties: Frantoio, Leccino and Coratina, all certified organic by the IMO and all dry farmed so they produce small but flavourful fruits. Each olive is harvested by hand and processed on the farm which is all part of our simple philosophy – do not add anything synthetic and honour the trees. It takes time but each tree has a life of its own and we learn more each year about the workings of nature and the trees. This olive oil is our first offering, the authenticity of each tree’s upbringing shines through in this oil’s rustic flavours. This year was the first year we bottled some of our olive oil and we have savoured every drop, it is full of subtle flavours and has a buttery smooth texture.
Currently we have one bamboo bike at Fundo Meza. In the future we plan to grow bamboo at the farm that is fit for making these beautiful bamboo bikes. Bike making workshops will perhaps be held here to encourage the use of sustainable transport in the area and for people to build their own bike. Bamboo grows naturally down in the valley, however, it is not the right variety. We need to start growing bamboo that is hollow enough to make bikes.
Whilst wandering through the fields and weaving my way through the olive trees I began to see the olive farm from the perspective of the trees. Each tree has an expansive view of the surroundings. In four directions your eye is lead down the long alleys between the regularly spaced rows of trees. I tried to capture the view from one tree with these 3 images above, but I think it is best if you visit Fundo Meza to see for yourself!
These loaves of rye sourdough bread were made using a sourdough starter that was started at Fundo Meza. To cultivate a starter using simply flour, water, and yeast (bacteria) in the air took just under a week. We bake the sourdough bread in our fantastic wood fired outdoor oven which adds a delicious taste. The recipe and instructions of how to make this bread will be included in Fundo Meza’s online recipe book at some point in the future. If you want the recipe before then request it by e-mail via the contact page.
