Dense purple in colour, it has a spicy nose of blackberries and pencil lead. Medium-bodied and dry, it’s well-balanced and firmly structured with a lovely, velvety mouth feel. A house wine contender.
Offers gently perfumed fresh fruity expression with sweet, ripe candied cherry flavours in an easy-drinking, uncomplicated style.
Entirely organic, this is a natural wine, made using clay amphorae in the ancient way, together with wild yeasts and without filtration. Blend of three little-known indigenous varieties. Unlike some “natural wines” I have tasted, this one is very clean with yellow-fruit flavours that are hard to pin down but are, nonetheless, pleasant and persist, along with lightly bitter notes through the finish. Not for everyone, but worth a try.
Potent and powdery lined, this is a dusky, rustic blend of Castelão, Touriga Nacional and Syrah from Setúbal. Sweet and ripe with black plum, blackberry, black cherry and potent cassis, framed with gritty/grippy cocoa tannins and hugging a solid core of black fruit. Best taken with an equally simple and rustic plate, like sausages or lamb casserole.
Definition of value? At less than a tenner on private liquor shop shelves, this one shows, again, the value in Portuguese wines. From the Setúbal Peninsula, it’s a regional blend of Castelão, Trincadeira and Aragonez, exuberantly rustic, with gutsy black plum, leathery blackcurrant and gritty/tuggy tannins to the spicy finish. This is not some sweet, dumbed-down marketing wine, but rather an authentically rustic and honest, simple, gutsy red for casseroles or stews. Stock up.
Blend of three native varieties shows great charm, offering soft floral and lightly scented red-berry character with gentle spritz and refreshingly light, fruity finish. Ideal as an aperitif.
There is Vinho Verde you think you know, and then there are wines like this. From one of Vinho Verde’s icons, this is Alvarinho from the Monção and Melgaço subregion, regarded as a “cru” in quality. For this wine, the vineyards sidle the river, and are blanketed with stones. The Contacto refers to the fact that this wine spent extended time on the skins. Wild pear is slicked with salts, meadow herbs and scented with a perfume of wild mint. The form is greyhound sleek and the finish lingers with savoury allure. Best with some breathing space.