… the 2011 Corte Gardoni, Bardolino Chiaretto, and the non-vintage Casal Garcia, Vinho Verde Rose.
The Corte Gardoni is a beautiful rose from the Veneto, with a pretty light red color, an aromatic nose of fresh strawberries and raspberries, light bodied, medium acidity, simple but delicious. $14 at Moore Brothers, Wilmington, DE. Grade: B+
The NV Casal Garcia is a Vinho Verde rose from the Minho, with a light cherry red/hint of orange color, a slight petillance as you would expect from a white VV, fragrant nose of some earth along with fresh cherry and raspberry fruit, sharp acidity, also simple and delicious, with that added tang from the fizz. Loved this one and a nice QPR at $9 net in DE, although I got it at a Mom and Pop type place and it might be less expensive in a larger store. Shows best with food. Grade: B+.
The Casal Garcia took me back to when I used to travel to Lowell, MA on busyness and would go over to the Portuguese market and get Casal Garcia white VVs, three for $10. And some linguisa and Portuguese sweet bread. Those were the days.