I love discovering new things. Like a grape called Portugieser. Which is not from Portugal. In this case, it’s in a bottle of red wine from Hungarian producer Gere Atilla. I got it at a tiny and charming wine shop in the East Village with the slightly un-google-able name of Wineshop.

I’d like to think I could describe it in a most succinct fashion, but I’m going that job to leave the importer, Blue Danube Wine:

Gere Portugieser is nearly devoid of tannin, feather light, and takes a chill nicely.

2016 Gere Attila Portugieser

A couple other things that make the Gere Atilla a friendly red is it’s sealed with a screw cap and a modest 12.5% alcohol.

Though this is a wine from Hungary, drinking it made me feel very New York. I recall going to the original Terroir wine bar in 2011 (also in the East Village) for happy hour. For happy hour there was not one but TWO Hungarian white wines available by the glass, which floored me. Naturally, I drank both. Anyway, now keeping my eye out for more intriguing red wines from this country.