Tere .. I was in my early 20s (and definitely not a wine connoisseur) when I drank Mateus. Mateus was considered upscale (in my age group) and was much more expensive in the Yukon in those days than most others of the bubbly rotgut genre that one could find to drink back then. Believe me there are worse roses, but it could be we were conned by the price - since everyone knows that 'price = quality' - well perhaps that is what the young (female?) mind thought back then. 
That said though, maybe it was the romance of being in exotic lands but frankly I think the quality in Portugal was outstanding back then (IF one likes the stuff at all, of course) and it was on every wine list in every restaurant (and they were not 'tourist trap' restaurants we went to - just where the locals seemed to go).
Interestingly I have a friend (who is almost 60 now, and lives in NC) who says that the ONLY wine she will ever drink, even today, is Mateus. However, she drinks very rarely so perhaps she too is as deluded as I was when I was young.
Anyway .. off topic .. sorry. Back to knocking around the olive oil industry.
