RKS 2023 Wine and Travel: Pico Islander’s Maxim “Plant Your Vines Where You Can Hear the Crabs Singing”

On Pico Island in the Portuguese Azores  there is an old maxim with grape producers, “Plant your vines where you hear the crabs singing.” Why?

Pico Island is blessed with a temperate climate being an island in the Atlantic ocean benefitting from a maritime climate. But Pico Island is really a volcanic mountain itself. And the higher you plant your vines the colder it gets which makes a difference in Pico Island as even in the summer months it never gets hot although I have heard from a Pico Islander that climate change has caused rises in summer temperatures. It is best then to plant your vines close to the ocean in currais which are micro plots encircled by square lava rock walls. These enclosures remind me by misguided analogy of terracing in the Douro region of Portugal. So what about the salt from the ocean spraying over the grapes. Well the abundant rainfall washes most of that salt of but in some Pico Island wines you may notice the salinity. As the best plots are close to the ocean you are in a location where you hear the crabs singing!