Talk-A-Vino

I’m again [lucky bastard] in Portugal, and get to enjoy this beautiful country. Of course one of the first places I have to visit is a supermarket, to see what’s new in the wine section (you can find some illustrations for my first encounter here). My eyes stop on the bottle of wine from the unknown region for me – Tejo. There were both red and white wines, standing next to each other, so I decided to grab both.

Let me give you description of the wines.

2012 Enóloga Antonina Barbosa Vinho Branco Tejo Vinho Regional (12.5% ABV, made from the Portuguese grape called Fernao Pires): Light yellowish color in the glass. Spectacular perfumed nose, resembling some of the best French Viognier – shows bright perfumed fruit, very elegant, not over the top. Very round and delicate on the palate, touch of apricot, peach and white apple, fresh acidity, perfectly dry and balanced. Drinkability: 8

2012 Enóloga Antonina Barbosa Vinho Tinto Tejo Vinho Regional (13% ABV, a blend of Aragonez, Castelao and Cabernet Sauvignon): Ruby red color in the glass. Fresh fruit nose, shows nice ripe concentrated fruit and a touch of earthiness. On the palate, very restrained, dry, touch of tart cherries, some earthiness and light tannins presence. Good acidity and good overall balance. Drinkability: 7

So we are looking at two good wines. Now, let me ask you a question. Based on the description above, how much these wines should cost?

I will give you a few seconds to think about.

And a few more seconds.

And a few more.

Ready? What do you think?

Okay, we can skip the drum roll, but let me know if you expected to see this number.

€1.29 each.

A whooping €1.29.

I think this is pretty impressive, that such a level of quality can be achieved at such a price of the wine. This wine is a private label, made for the Pingo Doce stores, by the Falua winery. Of course as this is the case with the private labels, no additional details can be found on the winery web site.

I also learned about relatively new designation for the Portuguese wines – Tejo Vinha Regional, which was created in 2009 to be used in the Ribatejo region. Ribatejo DOC (higher classification) is retained for some specific areas of the region.

That’s all I have for you for now. There were many other great wines, food and very special experiences, like Port barrel tasting all the way  to the 1970 – this all hopefully will be shared in this blog in the orderly fashion.

So, can you top my quality/price ratio? I will let you think about it. Cheers!