B E B E R E

Peacock, crab, cat, stork, gazelle...

...are all different brands of vinho verde that I brought back from the Portuguese wine store down the street from work. As it's the season for this inexpensive, effervescent, goes-with-anything summery wine, I've started stocking up. As you can see, I decided to get thematic and just pick the ones with critters on the labels.

The commoner brands are Cat and Casal Garcia, and are often the only ones you can find outside of Portuguese neighborhoods. Both are nice and will go over well at any cheese party or barbecue. If you can, try to find a Portuguese dealer. Also, prepare to be bowled over by the selection. The place I stopped into the other night had in the neighborhood of 15-20 brands, all comparably priced and most all equally good. I even found a couple examples of the harder-to-find vinho tinto - a red vinho verde that is bubbly and needs to be chilled, just like its white counterpart. There are three stores on Cambridge Street that carry restaurant-sized bottles of Peacock brand (Pavao), too. If you're having a party, I'd recommend getting one of these. You'd be amazed at how fast what's called "mother's milk" by a lot of Portuguese gets drunk up.