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Over the centuries, vines were farmed here for table wine.

Portugal’s Douro Valley is of course best known for port, and in the last 30 years or so for sturdy red table wines.

That meal with two bottles of simple table wine comes in at under $100 for eight houseguests, she noted.

I took a sip and was delighted to find the red table wine was just to my taste — tannic, medium-bodied, and full of dark fruit.

It’s a table wine that even a novice wine drinker could enjoy because of the pleasant, sweet tropical finish.