Portugal Producer Makes Pretty Good Table Wine

I have picked up a few bottles of value wines from Portugal a time or two. And frankly, never liked any of them.

I recently took the recommendation of Ashley at Cork & Cracker in Indianapolis and bought a $12.99 bottle of Barco Negro red table wine. It comes from the Douro Valley of the seaside country.

This wine has a nice dark ruby color, there is soft red fruit and a definite spice on the nose of this wine. It has soft tannins and it has a very nice feel in the mouth.

When most of us think of Portugal, we think of port. The best ports in the world come from the country also known for its cork production.

But check out your local wine shop and you'll see more and more Portugal red wines.

This wine is made from three grapes I'm not familiar with: Tinta Roriz 30 percent, Touriga Franca 30 percent, Touriga Nacional 40 percent.

But I'd recommend this wine. It's big enough to please the purists, smooth enough for the novice, and nicely balanced for anyone who likes a nice wine with a different flavor profile with dinner.

It was nice with my grilled steak, green beans and fresh corn!

I paid $12.99 for this bottle but if you look hard enough, I found it under $10 on the Net.

Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com