Clear medium-deep ruby. Nose of raspberries, spice, hard candy with a bit of barnyard. Tastes simply of tart red berries. A wine to accompany barbecued burgers on a summer evening. Drink now.
If you think port is a winter drink, you haven't tried white port. Deep amber in colour, it has a nutty nose of dried fruits with a spicy orange-peel note, rich and full on the palate, it has a creamy caramel and orange flavour. Chill it and serve it with mushroom soup or add some tonic and a wedge of orange over ice as a pre-prandial cocktail.
Pale straw in colour offering an almond and citrus-peel bouquet with a mineral note; light-bodied with a faint spritz; crisply dry with lemon and green melon flavours and a long, fresh finish. Good value.
There is Vinho Verde you think you know, and there are wines like this. From one of Vinho Verde's icons, this is Alvarinho from the Monção and Melgaço subregion, regarded as a "cru" in quality. For this wine, the vineyards sidle the river and are blanketed with stones. Wild pear is slicked with salts, meadow herbs and scented with a perfume of wild mint. The form is greyhound-sleek and the finish lingers with savoury allure. Best with some breathing space.
A well-priced aperitif. Deep amber in colour with a nutty nose of dried apricot and orange peel; spicy flavours of orange, caramel and honey fill the mouth. Serve chilled.
They don’t get much better than this for the price! A blend of Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional. Dense purple in colour with a floral-spicy nose of black plums with a tobacco-leaf note; medium-bodied, dry with richly extracted flavours of plum and mocha chocolate that finish firmly.
This is a rustic, approachable and friendly blend of Castelão, Aragonez and Touriga Nacional from Lisboa, near the sea. You can taste a salinity throughout, along with crisp and floral plum, blueberry and herbal rock rose scrub. Tannins are downy and fuzzy, right to the short, purple floral finish. Authentic and charmingly so, especially with your Thai or Indian spiced goat or eggplant. Fantastic value.