For The Love Of Port

I discovered this today at my local wineshop. I'm not that crazy about the regular branco VV that Casal Garcia offers, and I remember how weird red VV seemed when I tried it in Portugal. I didn't know what to expect when I opened it up this evening. If anything, it kind of reminds me of the Italian desert wine, Brachetto, though Brachetto is a bit sweeter and more Strawberry Crush red than this. It is unmistakably strawberries, anyway. The rose comes in a screw top, but I don't really care about that when it comes to VV. Better that than some rubber cork that tests my corkscrews.

This is a fun wine to drink. Given that we're getting into winter here, I won't stock up on it now. It's a long way to summer, and I look forward to sitting outside and having some when it warms up again. Not sure how I'd pair it with food, aside from fruit salad, but it drinks pretty well on its own, so I'm not too worried with that.

Brian,
i finally had this in October and I liked it better than others that I've heard talk about it. It was a bit different than I thought it would be though, but I enjoyed it. I also plan to get some when next summer rolls around for a an easy drinking red that I can chill down on a warm day.

I can see people not liking it, but since these are less than $10/bottle I'd recommend people get at least one to see for themselves.

As Andy alluded to, I had arranged a visit to the Vinho Verde region as a nice departure from our typical Port & Douro activities during the Port Harvest Tour. We went to Aveleda which is the best known and largest producer. When I was in my late 20's I found the Casal Garcia for under $5 and that was my entee into Vinho Verde.

Like Andy, I truly enjoyed the Casal Garcia Rose. The vast majority of our guests did not, but they are used to drinking high end table wines and I think they were less open minded to what to expect from a VV at this price point. I thought the balance was fab and the fact that it was not too sweet was a huge plus. Very nice quaffer, not to be taken seriously but would really go great with simple preparations of oysters, scallops, shrimp or even fried calamari.