Wine is everywhere in Portugal and it is a big part of European culture. It’s not unusual to have wine at lunch and it’s usually a given at dinner. Portugal has about 13 different wine regions so there are many different varieties produced. They are also very affordable. You can easily buy a bottle at the grocery store for €2 and it will be delicious. In the states, you buy a bottle for $2 and it’s probably horrible and will definitely give you a hangover. That is not the case here. Even going to a restaurant, you can get a full bottle or a carafe of house wine for like €10.  In the states, you usually can’t even get a glass in a restaurant for that. 

Before moving here, I would occasionally drink wine. I preferred the very sweet or very light, whites. My favorites were Moscato and very sweet reds like Stella Rosa. I definitely never liked reds if they didn’t taste like candy. I referred to reds as “grown-up wines.” However, super weird thing happened to me and things changed after living here for a couple of months. One day I decided to try a taste of a red my friends were drinking. I loved it. It was deep and dry with virtually no hint of sweetness, everything I would have hated before, and I freaking loved it. It was so weird!!! So I started trying more and more reds, for science you know, just to make sure. I rarely taste one that I don’t like now and I regularly choose red over white. I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me!

The best Cab I’ve tried so far from this gorgeous winery nearby and my favorite bottled sangria. The red one is good too btw

Port is the most popular of the Portuguese wines. It’s a liqueur wine so it’s very sweet, rich, and has a higher alcohol content than other wines. It commonly comes in white, ruby and tawny, but there are other varieties too. You can get some really great vintage bottles. Port wine is delicious on its own but then some genius invented the Porto Tonico cocktail. Porto Tonico is Port mixed with tonic water, lemon or orange and mint, over ice. It’s a refreshing cocktail, absolutely perfect for a hot summer afternoon.

Vinho Verde is another staple here. It’s a light, refreshing wine with a hint of sweetness. It has a moderate alcohol content so it is actually lower calorie. It’s the 2nd most exported Portuguese wine, behind Port.

Since wine is so abundant and delicious, sangria is also super popular. Every restaurant, snack bar, and coffee shop sells it by glass or pitcher. They are filled with the most amazing lemon and orange slices, mint, and cinnamon sticks.

I am so excited to explore all the different types that are produced in the country and learning more about them. So far, with so many choices, it’s been REALLY hard to choose a favorite so I guess I’ll just have to continue trying them all until I do! Saude!!!