jamie goode's wine blog

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Today was Majestic's press tasting. Some nice wines on display, with a particularly strong showing of reds from the south of France and the Rhone. But Majestic weren't showing any of their Portuguese wines, though. It's Portugal I'm focusing on this evening, with two bottles open.

First up, a classic. Jose Maria da Fonseca's Periquita is one of the world's great wine brands. When we think of branded wine, we tend to think California and Australia. But it's really Portugal who set the scene. Lancers, Mateus Rose and Periquita. Periquita, which hails from Terras de Sado, near Lisbon (and where Jose Mourinho comes from, incidentally) is a vibrant, juicy red wine with a nice earthy streak and good acidity. There's nothing too flash or forced about this. It's just easy to drink and it ages well.

Second, a born again version of Tinto de Anfora. This is an Alentejo wine that used to be very Portuguese (in a traditional sense - all earthy and medicinal, with lots of Portuguese oak - a bit of an acquired taste). The reinvented Anfora is dense, modern, dark and burly, with vivid sweet dark fruit backed up by spicy oak. It's a bit of headbanger, but it works. Portugal meets the new world. I'm enjoying this wine. Both are available from Waitrose and don't cost all that much considering the pleasure they give. I'm getting a good vibe from Portugal at the moment.

1 Comments:

At 1:57 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

I should add that periquita is currently on offer at £3.99 (down from £4.99) in Waitrose. At that price, it's a good buy. It won't blow you away, but it's a nice drinker.

 

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