Choosing a Wine You Like

My Portuguese is a little rusty. I still understand it pretty well but I don’t speak it often so what comes out is a combination of Portu-spanglish. The result is that I am understood most of the time. A lot of Portuguese speak English, but you can’t guarantee that when you walk into a small place. So what do you do if you don’t speak the language, walk into a place, they don’t speak English, and you need something? In this case hard to find Vintage Port and Douro Wines.

Research! And a few key/gateway words. This applies to any “foreign” situation. You don’t need to do hours and hours of research, unless you want to. Just like at a wine tasting; you tasted something that you liked. Research the attributes of that wine you liked. Then research a few key/gateway words in that language to convey those attributes. I always have multiple wines (vintages, types, etc) that I am looking for when I walk into wine shops, foreign or domestic. If they don’t have what I am looking for then I thank them and move to the next shop. But often, and especially when they do have what I am looking for, they will have something else that I should try, based on the attributes I shared with them. These “experiment” wines (within a reasonable price) have usually been outstanding!