I often drink wines together in pairs. It's a good learning experience. Last night I tried two rather contrasting wines, one from Bordeaux and one from Portugal's Alentejo.

Haut-Medoc de Giscours 2002 (Waitrose) is a digestible Claret in a classic style. There's a subtle plummy bitterness to the black fruits, with a minerally earthy aspect that's quite nice. There was a bit of greenness, too, but in a good way: this is the sort of greenness that I predict will mellow and integrate well with age. Indeed, this is a wine with a nice future ahead of it: the concentration of flavour is such that this will probably age gracefully. A traditional sort of wine, in a good way.

Esporao's Touriga Nacional 2001 is a different beast. Again, there's a lot of wine here, but the feel is a little forced. A concentrated effort, but with the taste of added acid, added tannin and added American oak. I'm not sure that tannin and acid were added, but they could have been. It's a big, Aussie-style wine with lots of impact, but it's not my favourite style. I admire the weight of flavour, but this bottle isn't one I'm drawn back to.