I fell in love with the dry table wines of the Douro in the early aughts, just as I was getting into the wine business. On my first trip to Portugal, I visited the Douro and was lucky enough to visit Quinta do Crasto, whose single vineyard wines I thoroughly admired. If my memory serves me correctly, the Vinha do Ponte and Vinha Santa Teresa wines cost only about $60-70 a bottle at the time. Today they go for over $200 - if you can find them. Here is a selection of more accessibly-priced wines - all from local grapes, including a lovely dry white that offers tremendous value.
Read MoreI found these three wines immensely impressive. To start with, they are all delicious, and moreover, each offers such an immense quality-to-value ratio that the pricing is thoroughly hard to believe. I’d buy any of these three with great confidence.
Read MoreCVNE 2011 Rioja Reserva Viña Real: I tasted one ounce of this wine each day for three days before I wrote a note on that third day. I would decant it at breakfast and leave it until dinner - with zero trepidation.
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