ONLINE TASTING - Portugal: Europe's Misunderstood Treasure Trove

The most underrated wine country in the world? Portugal comes very close to the top of the pile. Yes, it’s very famous for its fortified wines, port and Madeira, and it’s infamous for those of a certain age for Mateus Rosé, whose flask-shaped bottles fuelled many a tryst in days long gone by (and many impromptu candle-holders the morning after).

But there’s far more to the wines of Portugal than port and pinkness, as you’ll discover with this online tasting of a white wine and two reds. The white is a Vinho Verde, while the reds come from Dão in the north of the country and the Alentejo in the south. With these three, we’ll only be scratching the surface of the estimated 250 different grape varieties that can be found here, but hopefully they’ll whet your appetite to try some of the others!

I would recommend buying in advance:

1 bottle of White Vinho Verde
1 bottle of Red Dão
1 bottle of Red from Alentejo
With each of these, as we always say, stay away from the bargain basement – we’ve put together a list HERE of decent quality, widely available examples of the styles – Lidl has Portugal as the focus for its current Wine Tour, so the selection there is stronger than normal. Or ask your local wine shop for advice (and failing all else, you should be able to find Douro wines in many stores - we looked at them back in autumn hence their absence from this tasting...)

As for food recommendations, stick with what's in the picture above and you won't be disappointed

One ticket will entitle everyone in your household to attend this tasting – make sure you have enough wine to go around!