This is NOT rot! Delightful, semi-effervescent vinho verde. If it’s called vinho verde, it’s from Portugal, and although the literal translation suggests “green wine”, in practice, it just means young wine, not aged very long. Lower alcohol (as is the case with all VVs) around 10%.

I bought it because the price was right and the artwork (normally I’m not a fan of “whimsical” bottle art) reminded me of my favorite book of all time, Circe. I always imagined her walking along the beach of her island looking a bit like this.

Tasting notes: smells bright, lime zest, green apple on the nose and the palate. Maybe some green melon, too? Medium light body, medium high acid, easy to drink on its own or paired with food. Parsons and I had this with spicy curry from our new favorite take out place in Newtown. More info on this wine.

I am absolutely going to go find more of this, and at $12-14 per bottle, why not?

Score out of 5: 🎻🎻🎻🎻 seriously good!

Since this is the first installment, here’s an explanation of the scoring system:

🎻: gack, awful, nothing redeeming: please don’t hurt yourself

🎻🎻: more bad than good, but maybe someone will like it…just not me

🎻🎻🎻: more good than bad, about as good as a “house” wine

🎻🎻🎻🎻: okay, now we’re talking! you’d have to go looking for faults, much better than house wine

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻: tastes just as good as something that costs 2-3 times as much, maybe…wait right there, I’m going to buy a case