Portugese wines....

[wdonovan]

Portuguese reds are I think the best kept secret in the wine world. Not much here to cellar for two decades but some nice fruity, easy to drink wines that price wise are as closer to free than anything you probably find worth drinking. As far as 'rustic' or 'coarse' it appears that these traits are being bred out of the region, starting at the higher quality vineyards naturally. We are very fond of the Touriga Nacional grape and buy a lot of simple but pleasant table wines from Alentejo, Dao, Douro and Bairrada. PW Your 'variety pack' idea is exactly what I did. I found a local-ish store with a large selection and had him make me up a mixed case. We tasted, made notes, tried another half a case. Now we have some nice alternatives for weekday-with-dinner beverages.