Down the Portuguese Wine Rabbit Hole

Visiting Lisbon's new wave of bars and restaurants rekindled my love affair with Portugal's obscure grapes.

Clockwise from right: Tasca Baldracca and its aftermath, Cave da Estrela wine shop, Novo Wine Bar, Collares red, Mouraria neighborhood at night.

Last week, I wrote about the old-time, traditional Lisbon—the Lisbon of ginginha bars, azulejo tiles, creaky trams, and classic tascas like Zé da Mouraria, where you eat a huge platter of bacalhau washed down with vinho verde at long tables lined with white paper, under posters of fado queen Amália Rodrigues. But to only talk about that Lisbon is to neg…