This has a solid feel, projecting depth and concentration unusual for Vinho Verde. It is mouth gripping and coating, an awfully friendly style of wine, easy to drink and totally delicious with a burst of acidity on the finish to cut the lemony fruit. The price is very reasonable, considering the way Vinho Verde’s have escalated of late, but it’s for drinking young, I don’t think it will hold well for more than a couple of years. Drink now-2013. Tasted Feb 2010.

The best red wines from Portugal tend to be blends, this is a blend of Aragonez (Tempranillo in Spain), Touriga Nacional commonly used to make Port and Alicanti Bouschet, aged in New French Oak barrels for seven months. This shows a bright ruby purple colour, displaying lifted aromatics of strawberries, purple fruit and purple flowers. It’s a lot less dense than it’s bigger more expensive sibling the Grow Grey, but that is not a bad thing, here we have all the fruit, but somehow it’s lighter on its feet, this is more succulent, the fruit levels are good, the tannins velvety and fine grained, just busting with flavour, a more friendly and approachable wine making this hard to resist, a very fine effort for the money.

The 2006 Grou Grey is black/purple in colour, the aromatics are rather racy, almost sherbet tinged and the wine just bursts with flavour, throwing waves of sweet ripe cherries into the mix with Mediterranean spices and plenty of power to the vanilla spiced oak flavours. Clearly a very well made wine, this has had some time to develop in bottle and can be enjoyed now or continue to develop further for several years. Tasted Feb 2010

The best red wines from Portugal tend to be blends, this is a blend of Aragonez (Tempranillo in Spain), Touriga Nacional commonly used to make Port and Syrah. Raised completely in Stainless steel, shows deep purple colour, with a nose of earthy, spicy cherries, the aromatics are decidedly deep, but there’s something tweaking at the top end and I haven’t quite put my finger on it yet...almost a stewed rhubarb tinge, it's nice. The palate is fresh, there’s good underlying acidity here, with plenty of ripe black fruit flavours, plum, blackcurrant and complicated by flavours of kale, cumin and Paprika, it’s really quite spicy, a very gamey style of wine, finishes slightly warm. This would suit really big stews with dumplings or venison, ideally something loaded with flavour which would drown most other wines.

Deep ruby – purple inky colour. Powerful ripe berry fruit aromas. Excellent balance and complexity. Delightful fresh intensity. Big, full bodied, well structured palate. Intense mixture of rich dark fruits, liquorice and spice. Superb depth and richness. Good long finish.

This 2009 Alvarinho is a lovely wine, graceful, precise and crisp, yet full of fruit. It almost sneaks up on you as it develops in the glass, there’s good underlying acidity, seems almost bright and sunny, with juicy acidity there are touches of grapefruit, grass and nectarine. The finish is not only lingering, but grips with waves of fruit coating the tongue. Drink now-2013. Tasted Feb 2010.