When in Porto, drink...beer.

The culture of drinking in Portugal has not changed that much, even knowing that the beer companies have embraced a poisoning atittude in the market. Yes, we drink beer, a lot, but some of our cities became open beer festivals and our streets public toilets. Even when it´s cold, we go out and drink: wine at the meals and beer after. It´s somehow moving to see how may good wines we can afford for almost no money. We are still wine lovers, and from red and white to green and rose, the choices are unstopable.

Let´s face it: we are the worst wine marketers. Our wine is still unknown, it´s not a label yet, in terms of french and italian wines are.Touriga nacional, the nobblest red cast, from Dão Wine region is one of our most  famous labels. Demarcated regions were created by Marquês de Pombal back in 18th century, to assure the quality of it.

In city supermarkets, the choices are obviously more boring and more touristy. You just need to go out a bit to the inland and you will see incredible wines at cheaper prices. You will be suprised to find in that restaurant in the middle of nothing the best wine of your life. It hapenned once in Beja to find a marvelous brand new rose, from Alentejo, joining some local migas (greasy ribs in a bread mix) and the first thing we did was to buy some bottles in the local Pingo Doce. Of course, we tried to find it in Lisbon or Porto, and no signs of it.

In Lisbon, beer it´s more popular than wine. In Porto, the obvious Porto it´s not so obvious. It´s simply not part of our daily habits. Last time i had it was in my chilhood, just to feel the taste of it while i was watching my aunts eating cookies. Once again, Tourism has left his footprint. The common scenario in Poets Hostel in Porto is seeing everyone buying the cheapest Port wine bottle and drink it from the bottle, like one litre beer. Never forget: never trust city guides, trust us.

Manuel Pacheco