Variety: Aragonez; Trincadeira; Cabernet Sauvignon; Alicante Bouschet
Region: Alentejo DOC, Portugal
Cost: $28 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: Deep, dark red, opaque; Spicy red berry fruits with subtle oak complexity on the nose. The palate is full-bodied and textured, with well-structured tannins. Solid and dense with great potential for bottle maturation.
My Review: A new year, and some new wines – there are worse ways to keep of a year. Ok, to be fair, I actually opened this bottle before the new year (on Christmas to be exact), but with the holidays, and friends, and other things, I just hadn’t had time to sit down and write about it. So…here we are.
In the glass, the wine was a deep red colour, and on the nose, I picked up soft red berries and oak notes. Given that the wine is 14.5% alc/volume, I was impressed that it didn’t show hot on the nose (or on on the palate for that matter).
In the mouth, the oak continued and was joined by cherry and red berry notes. While the notes called the wine full-bodied, I found it to be more medium-bodied (though that may just be splitting hairs) – that being said, I do think the wine has potential for aging.
We paired the wine with a surf and turf dinner (steaks from the grill with crab legs, asparagus, and potatoes) and the wine was a good compliment. For the price I think it’s a good, though not great value, and they may have to do with liking, but not loving the wine. It’s good, but I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to purchase it again.
Editor’s Note: I received this wine as a free sample for review.
