Portugal Beyond Port

By Warren Rojas

Courtesy of Aveleda

Portugal often gets short shrift in wine columns, popping up only when fortified wines (generally) or port (specifically) comes into play. That just means there’s more Gatao for me.

Kelly Magyarics notes that the pleasing whites are “immensely quaffable and utterly refreshing.”

She fancies the 2008 Adega de Monçao Vinho Verde Muralhas ($12) a textbook example, detecting “crisp apple or lemon flavors” as well as a “dry and sometimes minerally finish.”

For a bigger-bodied pour, Magyarics gives 2005 Aveleda Follies Touriga Nacional ($16) the nod, touting its “chocolate and cherry aromas” and “elegant notes of blackberry and fig.”

(November 2009)