The cheapest you'll find a glass of red wine at a restaurant from a well known wine growing area is for about $5 or $6. And that's on the low end. For that much money you usually get a wine that tastes like is was filtered through some Bounty paper towels and then had some sugar and strawberry jam stirred in. Here is a tip: when you are looking for value and QUALITY on a restaurant wine list, look for wine from the most obscure place in terms of wine growing regions. They are usually inexpensive, and you'll get the best bang for your buck. Emerging wine areas where you can find these values are places like the Languedoc-Roussillon (Southern France), Southern Italy (Campania, Puglia, Sicily), Greece, Lebanon, Austria, and this weeks featured destination, Portugal.
Granted, you don't see many of these areas well represented in restaurants - but that's why you come see us, right?
Portugal has started to gain popularity for their non-fortified wines instead of just Port wine. However, wines from the major regions like the Dao and the Douro are still under-appreciated which results in fair prices for all of us.
In the summertime, one of the most refreshing whites on the market is a Vinho Verde, and you can find them at our store for under $10. But this time of year, I'm still thinking of red wine. When a bunch of Portuguese wine showed up on our door step, I had high hopes. After tasting through the line-up, I was really impressed by the quality of these wines. And then I looked at the prices! My goodness! One of the wines in the lineup particularly stood out from the rest. It was the 2007 Castello D'Alba from the Douro.
I thought about the glass of wine I paid $10 for in a restaurant the night before - it tasted like toothpaste compared to this sleek, sexy wine from Portugal. It's the kind of wine where you take a sip, put the glass down and look at the deep ruby colored juice in your glass and say, "Mmmmmm....that's tasty." And it feels even better to know that you only paid $10 bucks for an entire bottle of this beauty. This wine has character. It has personality. It's not bland and boring like so much of the wine out there in this price range. Heck, even Wine Spectator gave it 89 Points.
Granted, you don't see many of these areas well represented in restaurants - but that's why you come see us, right?
Portugal has started to gain popularity for their non-fortified wines instead of just Port wine. However, wines from the major regions like the Dao and the Douro are still under-appreciated which results in fair prices for all of us.
In the summertime, one of the most refreshing whites on the market is a Vinho Verde, and you can find them at our store for under $10. But this time of year, I'm still thinking of red wine. When a bunch of Portuguese wine showed up on our door step, I had high hopes. After tasting through the line-up, I was really impressed by the quality of these wines. And then I looked at the prices! My goodness! One of the wines in the lineup particularly stood out from the rest. It was the 2007 Castello D'Alba from the Douro.
I thought about the glass of wine I paid $10 for in a restaurant the night before - it tasted like toothpaste compared to this sleek, sexy wine from Portugal. It's the kind of wine where you take a sip, put the glass down and look at the deep ruby colored juice in your glass and say, "Mmmmmm....that's tasty." And it feels even better to know that you only paid $10 bucks for an entire bottle of this beauty. This wine has character. It has personality. It's not bland and boring like so much of the wine out there in this price range. Heck, even Wine Spectator gave it 89 Points.
2007 Castelo D'Alba (Douro)
In stock now @ $9.99
89 Points from Wine Spectator
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