December 27, 2009

Everything is hard before it is easy – different theories about the nature of intelligence

 Reaching your pontential

This post was inspired by President Obama’s speech to American students. The speech sent students messages that their situation can change and that they can achieve their potential through hard work, nothing new here! 

However, previous generations of students, including my own, rarely listened the idea that their intelligence was malleable or that their potential was not set from the begining. In fact, the idea about intelligence was that it was fixed.

What is the impact on sending kids a message that intelectual ability can be developed? Is it beneficial? If so, what should be done to promote a belief of incremental inteligence?

These are the questions we will try to answer in this post. 

Types of believes regarding intelligence

According to Standfords’ Professor Carol Dweck  research  there are two types of beliefs regarding inteligence:   

Some believe that intelligence is more of an unchangeable, fixed ‘‘entity’’ (an entity theory). Others think of intelligence as a malleable quality that can be developed (an incremental theory).”   

Some of us had episodes in primary school that clearly impacted how we saw our abilities and therefore our academic performances and professional lives. I recall when I was studying in high school drawing was not seen as a subject where hard work could make you better, you had to be talented. Needless to say that in the majority of the cases, professors where responsible for these beliefs.   

Successful learning

The research shows the different atitudes among entity and incremental theorists (papers here, here and here), and suggests that these can explain a better learning success of incremental theorists.  Successful learning is described as a path where new challenges are not avoided, strategies to overcome setbacks are formulated and implemented, and where motivation and performance is sustained. This definition of successful learning sends already the right message to kids (reducing pressure), as opposed to the message sent by a definition of successful learning as the final grade students attain. 

What makes incremental theorists successful learners?

The research suggests that each class of theorists shows the following behaviours:

For those endorsing more of an entity theory, the belief in a fixed, uncontrollable intelligence -a ‘‘thing’’ they have a lot or a little of – orients them toward measuring that ability and giving up or withdrawing effort if the verdict seems negative. In contrast, the belief that ability can be developed through their effort orients those endorsing a more incremental theory toward challenging tasks that promote skill acquisition and toward using effort to overcome difficulty.
 
Those who believe intelligence is a fixed entity (entity theorists) tend to emphasize ‘performance goals,’ leaving them vulnerable to negative feedback and likely to disengage from challenging learning opportunities. In contrast, students who believe intelligence is malleable (incremental theorists) tend to emphasize ‘learning goals’ and rebound better from occasional failures.

Entity theorists tend to be more concerned with besting others in order to prove their intelligence (‘performance goals’), leaving them highly vulnerable to negative feedback.
As a result, these individuals are more likely to shun learning opportunities where they anticipate a high risk of errors, or to disengage from these situations when errors occur.
 
In contrast, incremental theorists are more likely to endorse the goal of increasing ability through effort and are more likely to gravitate toward tasks that offer real challenges (‘learning goals’). 

Performance goals, with their emphasis on outcomes as measures of ability, were shown to produce a vulnerability to helplessness and debilitation after a setback or negative feedback, particularly in cases where current perceptions of ability were low. 
 
That is, when the goal is to validate ability and individuals do not believe they can accomplish this, motivation and performance tend to suffer. Learning goals, with their emphasis on understanding and growth, were shown to facilitate persistence and mastery-oriented behaviors in the face of obstacles, even when perceptions of current ability might be low.  

What could be done in order to change children’s beliefs regarding intelligence? 

Social marketing has been a powerful tool to change behaviour across social, political, safety, health and environmental issues.  The same techniques that comercial marketing uses are being use to promote a healthy lifestyle, garbage separation, inclusion and etc. These sucess stories could be applied to promote an incremental intelligence.

Using Art to change behaviours.In addition, group-specific activities should be implemented. Art can play an important role here. For instance, twenty-two years ago I saw a play at school regarding hygiene and I still recall most the story that was created to send simple messages as wash your hands before you eat. You can see more about how art is being used to change behaviours by watching Mallika Sarabhai TED’s presentation.  

What messages on intelligence should we send children?

It seems US students are getting the right input in terms of messages to see intelligence as something that can be developed. The following messages were extracted from President Obama’s speech:

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. 

If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
 
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work.
 
You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. 

The research above used “analogies such as (e.g., to muscles becoming stronger) and examples (e.g., of relatively ignorant babies becoming smarter as they learned).” to send messages such as:

learning changes the brain by forming new connections (…) students are in charge of this process

everything is hard before it is easy.   

As Eistein put it: “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”.

December 16, 2009

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

December 7, 2009

How Working Adults can incorporate renting books in their lifestyle?

Following the previous post The new Amazons, Blockbusters and Wifi Providers about building communities to reduce consumption, optimize resources and increase interdependence, there is an old alternative to have access to a book, DVD, Magazines and Internet access wiothout spending any money – the local public library.

This post is inspired in my experience in looking for strategies to consume responsibly (in this case we’ll cover books) and optimize my lifestyle.

You can read more about a sharing(/reduced consumption) oriented lifestyle, its benefits and the reasons why we have not been living it, in the post The new Amazons, Blockbusters and Wifi Providers.

The public library role in the economic downturn

Public libraries have been playing a centre role in providing internet access, entertainment and studying material to the unemployed.  Attendance and circulation -the number of items checked out in a given month – has surged. More about this here and here.

The Public library can gain this centre role on the lives of Working Adults as well, with clear benefits for everyone:  more money available, optimize usage of resources and a balanced ecological footprint.

Network of public libraries

Recently I have got a library card. The process to rent a book is the following:

1- Access to website (no login needed) and search for the book;

2- Check the book availability and its location;

Easy! A total of 5 books can be rented for an initial period of 15 days. After the 15 days an email is enough to extend the rental period. The extended rental period will be granted if no one else signalled the interest in it.

Bought books versus rented books

To buy a book is a simple one step action as opposed to a three step action (check out, extend and return) that involves separate visits to the library. A bought book means that we can postpone its reading as many times as we would like. A rented book has to be read right away or else we risk not reading it in time of is return (the option to extend might not be available). Finally, bought books can be consulted over time whereas rental ones demand a visit to the library.

Renting does not impede buying, actually it can make us spend our money more wisely by allowing a trial period to confirm the quality of the book, our interest in the topic, etc… In addition, having the option to rent a book that we see in a book store can retain our buying impulses.

So, what do Working Adults need to do to start renting books in a way that minimizes visits to the library and maximizes the rental period?

Renting books for working adults

Renting a book requires planning, discipline and understanding how to maximize the rental period and how to minimize the trips to the library.

When we were students renting a book was easily incorporated in our daily activities since the library was probably in/near the campus and time was abundant. Now, things are different and our schedules mirror that difference.

Here are my ideas to rent books:

Incorporate visits to the library in your schedule

Although on weekdays most public libraries close before 7 p.m., they are opened on Saturdays.

Check-out one book at the time

The option to take more than one book at a time was made for students during exam season. For Working Adults like me, taking one book at a time is the best option. Why? Our weeks are sometimes filled with unpredictable events that reduce reading time after work. It can be extra hours at work, an invitation for coffee or a dinner party.

Increase your chances for renewal

Give preference to books that have more than one copy available at the library and books that are not getting a lot of media coverage. This will greatly increase your chances of renewing the rental and will allow you to rent books with more pages than the ones you might be able to read on a 15 day period.

Make time to read the book

Giving priority to the selected book over other reading materials (blogs, papers, websites, magazines, etc…) it is probably the best way to secure the daily time to read your selection (assuming you already have a reading routine). If you still don’t have a non-work reading routine you can read more about how to start one  here.

Adapting libraries to working adults

Perhaps some of the following changes could also benefit the new classes of users:

  • After book titles that are frequently checked-out, the library could quantify its popularity in terms of monthly average check-out. This could be e reference to guide working adults to books which can be renewed more easily;
  • Libraries could extend their working hours until 8h30 p.m.;
  • If the last suggestion is not possible at all, perhaps they could create a paid service for extra-hour pick-up and return;
  • In my case, the network of public libraries did not have a copy of books regarding some topics that I enjoy (creativity, social media, behavioural economics). For that I recommend libraries to promote campaigns for book donations among its (more affluent) users. Which of your bought books can you donate?

November 29, 2009

Fundraising: Non-profits, retailers and the consumer during Christmas!

The current model of fundraising in retailers: when giving 1 euro to charity is better than giving 2!

During this time of the year the media has been flooded with commercials for charity campaigns promoted by retailers and non-profits. The partnerships among non-profits and the private sector are healthier than ever since every year more and more charity campaigns are being created.

For instance, one retailer has created a comic book that sells for 3€. One euro (1€) reverts to a non-profit. Another retailer has teamed up with a photographer and a non-profit for children to produce a book with pictures from public figures performing the profession they first wanted to be when they were a child. The book is selling for 20€.

The shift in these partnerships has evolved from just the lending of physical space in the retailer’s stores to the creation of specific products which generate income to both the retailer and the non-profit. The income is not the only outcome of these partnerships. Retailers send the consumers a message of social responsibility and the non-profit has access to a powerful marketing and product creation machine to put their cause out there.

Clearly these partnerships have been a successful partnership for both the non profit and the retailers. But, what esle is fueling this success? To answer this question we also need to think about the role of the consumer in this love triangle.

These partnerships seem to have the consumer buying products with little utility for the opportunity to help non-profits. Well, not quite! The products  have to have some utility otherwise we wouldn’t choose to buy them and that way helping, right (we could just give the money directly to the non profit)?  Perhaps the useless products have a psychological utility to either allow us a confirmation of the good deed we are capable of, or to turn an uncommon gesture more familiar and less disruptive of our give/get(/get/get) (no typo) habits, thus providing a good feeling?

The consumer, the retailer and the non profit seem happy with this model of fundraising, where the ends justify the means.

In the campaign above everyone seems to think that raising 2€*the number of comics sold is better than raising 1€*the number of comics.

From the old to a new model: the importance of 1€ and when giving 2 euros to charity is as good as giving 1!

  • The (un)responsible business?!

Lately businesses have been catalogued as “responsible business”. A “responsible business” is a business responsible in every possible way during its activities. Being social responsible is one of the responsibilities. Being a “responsible business” is definitely something that attracts good press, employee satisfaction and trust (from the customer, community).

Wouldn’t it be better for the retailer just to give the 2€ for every comic book that initially was produced to the charity and this way not producing something that is just going to contribute with emissions and not really useful at all?

Why when we do have these campaigns, we are the only ones who have to find satisfaction with the opportunity to give something? Shouldn’t retailers also find satisfaction in producing something entirely for free and give the proceedings from the sale to the charity? Or better, shouldn’t they give some of the margins they have in some products that the consumer actually needs? What great use of their negotiating and team building skills that would be? Also, the consumers would feel more confident when putting some of the money as the company would want to know where and how their money was invested. This commitment is rare but is essential to form the image that businesses have the illusion that these campaigns are forming.

  • The  (un)responsible non-profit?!

Indeed the non-profit is getting money to get what they need. But couldn’t the non-profit think of other ways to access the consumer base and the skills of retailer? For instance, the non profit could ask training in people management, negotiation, team building, motivation, planning and etc.

The benefits would have a greater impact on the everyday operation of the non-profit and this would definitely signal its supporters that its commitment is more than just getting money for their activities, it is also to get better and make better use of the funds available.

  • The (un)responsible consumer?!

Some products although with no utility to our everyday lives, were solely created to raise awareness to the foundation activities. This usually requires more commitment than a financial commitment and to me this is one of three ways these campaigns should go (the others being selling products with utility and retailers giving some of the margins in selected products). It involves investing our credibility and image in the cause as well. For instance, Armstrong’s bracelet was exactly that! If the products being marked aren’t like that, we should contribute to the non profit if we wish to do so, but without buying the product.

You might be thinking 1€ is not worth all this thought and energy of our daily reserves, after all is just 1€. Shouldn’t we only think that way when the small decision of spending 1€ is contributing to achieve efficient strategies to allocate, manage and control funds, to the transference of best practices between the private sector and non-profits, to reducing the impact of fundraising activities on the environment?

From the old to a new model: when 1 hour is more important than 1 euro

According to this Washington Post article volunteering in the US has increased last year and donations to non profits have decreased. The massive jobs loss and our increase in savings can be an explanation to this surge. It seems that when we are with little time and excess money we tend not to filter how we can contribute and give in to the many easy accessible solidarity black-box campaigns that give us no feedback how each other’s money is used, how it contributes to make an impact and how they are doing their best to optimize every € spent.

As the consumer will spend their money more wisely, it will probably consider volunteering over donating or donating their money only when some of the issues we discussed earlier are a reality.

The consumer: A leader of transparency and meaning in fundraising

The consumer has to lead the retailer/non-profit partnerships by filtering what it does not accept when it comes to fundraising and by increasing its involvement in the community. Only when this two sided partnerships become healthy three sided partnerships will the solidarity campaigns in retailers be a trustworthy mechanism for consumers to contribute.

Washington Pos

November 16, 2009

The new Amazons, Blockbusters and WIFI providers.

NeighbourZon, NeighbourBuster and WIFI Connections!

Can you imagine how your everyday life would be if you accessed a building/neighbourhood WIFI connection or if you and your friends shared their DVDs, magazines and books as you finished reading and watching them?

Probably yes!

I imagine these scenarios every time I turn on my computer and see the available WIFI networks (15 networks available) or finish reading a book that I know might interest a friend of mine.

Why should share your books, dvds and internet connection?

The reality of both scenarios means that you would have access to the items above without having to pay full price or anything at all. Your money could be used to purchase other things you needed or wanted. In addition, you would be:

-saving resources (energy, paper)

-gaining/fostering a sense of community;

-balancing your ecological footprint (less goods consumed, less carbon-dioxide is sent to the atmosphere);

Why haven’t we been doing it?

  • Money gives us power.  The more power we have, the less interdependent we can be. The economy has evolved tremendously since the end of the 2nd WW that a lot of money has been earned and is currently being earned. Money gives us power.  The more power we have, the less interdependent we can be. For instance, let’s say you have three very active kids and, attempting to wear them out, you decide to build a children’s playground on your lawn. The only thing stopping you from doing that is money. What would you do? Perhaps you would share your idea with a neighbour that also has kids and ask if he is interested in joining you? If you had the money, you would promptly build it, you wouldn’t have a need to reach out, period.
  • Anonymity. The competitiveness of our economy has meant that our schedules are demanding and the time we have for us and for our family is limited. If all free time we have is used to invest in the already “time bankrupted” relationships in our life, how are we supposed to foster a sense of community – we get home so late that we don’t even know the faces of our nearest neighbours. This  anonymity contributes to makes us more defensive and more suspicious of others.
  • Variety poses as another barrier to sharing. Companies have responded to today’s high levels of consumption with a variety and options of products/services. For instance, we can have different internet plans according to the total of GB downloaded. On top of that, we can have speeds of 8mb, 16mb, 256mb and fibre. This variety poses as another barrier to sharing. We think that it is too time consuming to ask our neighbours if they would be interested in sharing the internet connection. In addition to that, we immediately conclude that the neighbour that we have spoken once or, at best, twice has a more/less sophisticated internet usage than us.

The confirmation: why are there so many property and facility management companies?

Some years ago all apartment buildings were managed by a group of 2 to 4 residents from the building. This group had to pay the salaries of the cleaning personnel, make sure the monthly fee was paid by all residents, liaison with contractors to perform maintenance tasks, and so on. This was usually done on their free time. Nowadays it’s rare to find an apartment building that is managed by its own residents.  We are outsourcing everything we can and the impact is more than a life free of unimportant hassles, we are loosing a sense of community.

It’s curious that we are all advancing financially, professionally and we still can’t make advancements on the necessary skills to promote and maintain a shareable resource within the primary users of it.

Restoring the sense of community: Bartering – Have eggs, want milk.

Fifteen years ago I was introduced to the term bartering. Bartering is best explained with the following example:

An airliner gives away two plane tickets to a radio show. In return it gets free publicity in the radio. No money is exchanged during this operation. You can have more information about bartering here.

In order to barter one has to reach out to promote services/goods and understand what others can provide in return. Our goal to get what we need without using money is achieved by using basic skills of communication and community building.

Why this could be the right time to share your WIFI connection, books, dvds and magazines?

  • The recent economic crisis can be the trigger to pressure us to adopt the interdependent attitude that barters have and, therefore, making us sharing.
  • Communication is much easier with all the social media platforms (there are platforms specialized in connecting neighbours, see here).
  • Climate scientists have been clearer on the changes the climate has been suffering. With the growing awareness of what can be done in a macro and micro levels, promoting ways to reduce carbon emissions such as the creation of NeighbourZons, NeighbourBusters and shared WIFI Connections could definitely gain supporters.

Now, a provocation: can you think of other things that can be shared in your neighbourhood the way your WIFI connection could?

November 10, 2009

The “light of beauty” and the danger of a single story

The “light of beauty”

On my latest trip to Madrid, Caixa Forum had an exhibition called “Maternities”.

Sixteen photographs by Bru Rovira show moments between mothers and their offspring. These pictures were taken in different parts of the world and show the characters in everyday situations.

The following picture, to me, looks like a regular picture of a serene mother with her child. However, the background of  this family is very different from the outside factors that can lead to such serenity. The background of this family from Angola (they live in a Refugee camp in Kuito) was described on a commentary note by the photographer. It can be seen bellow.

Photo Exhibition: "Maternities"

Here is what Bru Rovira had to say about this moment:

She was sitting on the ground, looking for  protection of the early morning sun in the shadow projected into the reddish sand.

She and her baby. Playing. Devouring kisses.

Completely absent from the horizon of people hungry for something that can be put into their mouths.

Seeing this picture, one might think, “by very bad things are going, you can always  find inside you a light of beauty to which you can hold down to”.

The other photographs from the exhibition and  Bru Rovira’s narration can be found here (PDF file in Spanish).

The danger of a single story

The mother’s expression is so remarkable considering her story. Speaking of stories, the inspiring thing of this image is that is does not repeat the images of famine, poverty and war of Africa. The photo gives another vision of Africa (the vision that we are to used to is only present at the narrative), a vision of regular people, families that have dreams and show love to each other.

TED’s presentation of  the novelist Chimamanda Adichie says it best. She warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. She goes also by saying that when she was a child, she read British and American children books. In that time, when she created her own stories,  all her characters where white with blue eyes and played in the snow. She did not even consider that people with her skin color had room in her stories. Only after she came across African literature she made a shift in her writing.

She gives other examples of how other single stories of Africa and how damaging it can be to the perception we have of people (stereotypes).

The cause of single stories can be related with the following:

  • a tendency to categorize and generalize. It is easier for us to focus on the single story of someone we meet, a new place we visit or other culture we discover, and make it the definite story about the other person, place or cultures. The reason why this happens is a consequence of our tendency to categorize (that is how we learn at school) and generalize. Therefore, interpreting the one story as JUST one story from the set of stories that someone has to offer, can be a first step to overcome this tendency.
  • access to a wide range of stories can be limited. For instance, I recall the French film “entre les murs” about French classrooms and the number of different nationalities in that French classroom is far greater than the nationalities presented in my classroom in the second largest Portuguese city (Note: According to the conclusions of the study «Language Diversity in Portuguese Schools» 11% of the 75000 students (1st to 9th grade) of Lisbon schools  are from 74 other nationalities. Reference here – in Portuguese). The variety of nationalities, religions and races in our relationships can offer more alternatives to the information we get from the news, films or books, thus triggering an internal dialogue. This is specially difficult to have if you don’t live in a major city.
  • a tendency to look for information that confirms what we already know. The internet can help on contributing to limit the impact of the previous point. However, when we are actively searching the internet, we search for information to build on the knowledge that we already have. Our internet habits probably include reading  posts from  blogs from specific topics we always liked and looking at key sections on the same news-oriented websites. Just one question, when was the last time you found a blog that was from a topic that you were already interested and it presented views contrary to yours? Sometimes we don’t leave much room for variety of stories by always accessing the same sources of information.
  • a tendency to value the information we know more than the information we don’t know. In addition to the information pattern that we follow day after day,  we don’t leave much room for randomness, or to discover new information in areas that interest us.

A balanced story

We can make small changes in our behaviour to defeat the single story:

  • search for alternative stories in blogs, literature, in travelling and exhibitions. Exposing ourselves to activities, people and information that usually we don’t have access, either by buying a different magazine, or by going to a show or exhibition that usually we wouldn’t go, or follow bloggers that have an opinion contrary to ours.
  • question why we think what we think and give importance to what we don’t know. Asking questions that don’t look for evidence to reinforce what we think we know, use sites such as digg and delicious.

We need more stories about Africa like the one in captured in the photo.

November 5, 2009

15 seconds of fun!

A great funny video, really worth of your time!!

November 4, 2009

Berlin Wall – Accident has always shaped human destiny.

Excerpts of a blog post from a Newsweek reporter that was in Berlin on the 9th of November, 1989. The full text can be found here:

Egon Krenz, the Communist boss of the German Democratic Republic, called it a “botch.” He was savoring a rare moment of triumph when his party spokesman stopped by in the late afternoon of November 9. “Anything to announce?” asked Günter Schabowski, innocently. Krenz hesitated, then handed him a press release. It was to announce a major initiative he had forced through parliament only hours earlier, and which the country’s restive people had been demanding in the streets for weeks: the right to travel. Krenz intended to give it to them – but only the next day, November 10.

Oblivious to this critical fact, Schabowski went off and read it out to the world in a now-famous vignette. “When does it take effect?” reporters asked. Confused, Schabowski neglected the all-important date: “ so fort ,” he said. “Immediately.” In a heartbeat, the damage was done. Astounded East Germans surged like a human sea to the crossing points to the West. Border guards, receiving no instructions and not knowing what else to do, opened them up. The rest is history.

Accident has always shaped human destiny. Even so, it is worth asking, What if Schabowski had not messed up? Imagine that, the next day, Krenz’s travel laws had taken effect in an orderly and efficient German way.

Strictly speaking, the Wall would not have fallen. It would have been opened, not breached. The Communists, not the people, would have done it. Change might have come by evolution, not revolution. Might Krenz and the Communist reformers who had seized power just weeks earlier have been able to channel popular unrest, or even defuse it? Instead of a unified Germany today, could there still be two Germanys, East and West?

The “what if” game can be played out endlessly. Without the drama of that night at the Wall, with all its inspiring visuals, would the Velvet Revolution in Prague have come one week later? Would Romanians have found the courage to rise against Nicolae Ceausescu a month later? The dominoes of Eastern Europe might have toppled differently. A few might not have toppled at all.


November 3, 2009

Sand Animation of the Great Patriotic War

The next video is from an artist that makes dynamic art with sand at the sound of music.

The show is visually beautiful with a scenes of the Soviet Union during  2nd World War (the Soviets called the fight against Germany and its Allies the Great Patriotic War).

This video is really worth of your time!

At the end of the show the artist writes the words  “you are always close”.

October 29, 2009

5 Portuguese Wineries in the best 100 in the World

The American Magazine Wine&Spirits chose 100 wineries from bling tastings of wines released over the past 12 months. The  brands in the list produce a range of wines that score at the top of their categories.

vinhosinternationaltop wineriesphoto credit: wine&spirits mazine

The 5 Portuguese Wineries selected to join the exclusive list are the following (after each wine name you will see “rated with ” and a number from 80-100. Keep in mind that a wine rated with 90 or higher is considered to be exceptional):

Winery: Aveleda

2008 Vinho Verde Alvarinho, rated with 92, $13

2008 Vinho Verde Quinta da Aveleda, rated with 90, $9

2007 Vinho Verde Grinalda Reserva, rated with 90, $15

Winery: Nieport (Prices not available)

2003 Vintage Porto, rated with 96

2004 Douro Redoma Reserva White , rated with 96

Winery: Quinta do Portal (Prices not available)

Quinta do Portal Grande Reserva 2006, rated with 94
Quinta do Portal Reserva 2005, rated with 94
Quinta do Portal Grande Reserva 2003, rated with 93
Quinta do Portal Reserva 2003, rated with 92
Duradero 2006, rated with 91

Best Buys:

Quinta do Portal Red Colheita 2005, rated with 92

Quinta do Portal Red Colheita 2006, rated with 87

Winery: Quinta do Noval (Prices not available)

2003 Vintage Porto Nacional, rated with 98

Winery: Fonseca

10 years Fonseca, rated with 91, $25

20 years Fonseca, rated with 91, $52

40 years Fonseca, rated with 91, $188

Some of the wines from Aveleda  and Quinta do Portal were selected, by the same magazine, for the list of Excellent Wines bellow a $20 price tag. More information in my previous Two Portuguese Wines were awarded as “Value Brands of the Year”.

For more information about when to serve Port Wine in a meal, please check my previous post about White Port and Red Port.

Two Portuguese Wines were awarded as “Value Brands of the Year”