A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A Southern Portugal Red Blend

Portugal is well known for Port. What about its wine? The wine reviewed here comes from the Alentejo region of southeastern Portugal, which is not Port territory but in fact cork territory. I haven't been able to determine for sure the grapes of this 2007 vintage, but the 2004 vintage included the following red grapes, presumably in order of volume Aragonez (known in Spain as Tempranillo), Trincadeira, and Castello. So we have a relatively undistinguished wine region, and a blend involving two undistinguished grape varieties. Do I smell a bargain?

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Wine Reviewed Vinho regional Alentejano Herdade das Albernoas, 2007 14% alcohol about $8

Let's start by my sight translation of the marketing materials. Clear red ruby color. A fairly strong nose with strawberry aromas. The wine also evokes subtle exhalations of fallen leaves. Discover this red wine's good acidity embellished with silky tannins. You will taste prunes and spices. It is supple and lightly persistent. And now for my review.

The first meal involved beef stew that was slow cooked with soft wheat kernels and merguez (a spicy lamb sausage) accompanied by a dill pickle. The wine was mouth-filling and showed great balance. It tasted of plums. It kept its power in the presence of Turkish harissa, a spicy condiment. I tasted some tobacco. The wine was moderately long.

The second meal was a commercial shepherd's pie. This blend was round and had great balance among acidity, tannins, and fruit. Talking about balance; the wine did not seem overly alcoholic in spite of the 14% level. It was fairly long. Once again I particularly noticed plums and tobacco. By the way, I am not a smoker nor really an ex-smoker. But I like a tobacco taste in wine.

The final meal was commercially prepared barbequed spare ribs with string beans in tomato sauce and potatoes roasted in chicken fat. I know that I'm repeating myself by saying, round, mouth-filling and nicely acidic. The wine blended quite well with the greasy potatoes. It cut the fat and had no trouble meeting the harissa challenge.

I completed this wine tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a yellow Cheddar. The wine retained its qualities. It tasted rich when paired with Emmenthal (Swiss) cheese.

Final verdict. I was very, very pleased with this wine at such a price. As far as I'm concerned it competes well with many wines at twice the price. I hope you get to taste it for Christmas. (You could keep it for a year or so.) As I was trying to pin down the grape varieties, I read a review where the reviewer was so-so and said that his girl friend refused to drink this wine. But I made sure to drink every last drop in this bottle.