Blind Taste – Vinhos Tintos até 10€

by | Nov 26, 2018 | Wine | 0 comments

Are there good red Portuguese wines with a price up to 10 euros? … Evidently! We selected some wines with this price level, from various regions, to do a blind trial.

Notes:

  1. A) We are of the opinion that we should not taste a large quantity of wines in a short period of time. We don’t believe in those tasters who find themselves in a room and taste more than a hundred wines in a day … Our idea is another one: is to prove together, and eventually with other good companions, a limited series of wines, for a good few hours, always with good food and snacks. That was what happened today: 9 wines and a various snacks: sausages, cheeses, gizzards …
  2. B) We consider blind trial magical. Not being conditioned by labels, our brain is free to process all the information that comes to it, more freely and independently. Apart from the pleasure it gaves us, in the end, when you put the bottles away, there are always great surprises to register.

Let us then go in chronological order to the description of the wines in evidence:

Quinta da Cidadoura Reserva 2015

. Region: Lisboa
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Santos e Santos LDA
. Grape varieties: Syrah, Touriga Nacional and Castelão
. Alcohol Content: 14.5% vol.
. Price: 9 euros
A mild and slightly intense aroma. In the mouth, although pleasant, perhaps it lacks a little in flavor; has medium body, the alcohol content is slightly accentuated, and the end is relatively persistent. It is an interesting wine. The rating was unanimous.

  • 15,5 Points

Cabriz Reserva 2013

. Region: Dão
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Quinta de Cabriz / GlobalWines
. Grape varieties: Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro, Aragonez
. Alcohol Content: 13.5% vol.
. Price: 8 euros
A floral aroma with the presence of some spices. Medium body but tasty; the end presents some edges, perhaps due to the oak. A good structured wine, and so that still hold a good time bottled.

  • 16 Points

São Domingos Reserva 2011

. Region: Bairrada
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Caves do Solar de São Domingos
. Grape varieties: Baga, Touriga Nacional and Merlot
. Alcohol Content: 14.5% vol.
. Price: 6 euros
Color more retinta than the previous ones. Soft aroma of red fruit (strawberry). In the mouth we denoted lack of flavor and has some edges, with tannins not yet tamed in evidence. Medium body and the final is not persistent. It’s not a bad wine, but it’s inferior to the previous 2. No one guessed that this wine was from the region Bairrada.

  • 15 Points

Quinta do Espírito Santo Reserva 2013

. Region: Lisboa
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Casa Santos Lima
. Grape varieties: Tinta Roriz, Castelão, Syrah and Touriga Nacional
. Alcohol content: 15% vol.
. Price: 7 euros
Color retinta. Fruity aroma of red fruits. In the mouth it’s very intense, full-bodied, with tannins very accentuated, not elegant, and with an aggressive and astringent finish. A wine with great potential for the future, but at the moment it’s bettered to be storage. We even tend to be fans of this wine, but this edition is not completely ready to drink.

  • 15 Points

Monte do Zambujeiro 2014

. Region: Alentejo
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Quinta do Zambujeiro
. Grape varieties: Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez, Tinta Caiada, Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira and Petit Verdot
. Alcohol Content: 14.5% vol.
. Price: 9 euros
Fruity aroma. In the mouth it’s tasty, structured but the end is weak. It’s a wine that perhaps could be consensual, i.e. that will please many people but we were not convinced.

  • 15,5 Points

Paxá 2013

. Region: Algarve
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Paxá Wines LDA
. Grape varieties: Tinta Roriz, Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional and Syrah
. Alcohol Content: 14% vol.
. Price: 9 euros
It has a very chemical aroma. In the mouth it remains very chemical with very mature fruit that makes it not very pleasant. It presents medium body and short finale. It was consensually the least good wine in the trial.

  • 14 Points

Solar do Prado 2009

. Region: Douro
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Solar do Prado
. Grape varieties: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca
. Alcohol Content: 13.5% vol.
. Price: 9 euros
This was the oldest wine in the trial but it looks like a lot younger. Aroma to macerated fruit. Relatively tasty with a weak body and also a short finale. Stills a pleasant wine with some consensually in the context of light wines.

  • 15 Points

Capítulo 2015

. Region: Tejo
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Quinta do Casal das Freiras
. Varieties: Aragonês, Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional
. Alcohol Content: 13.5% vol.
. Price: 7,5 euros
A very pleasant aroma of cherries. In the mouth it’s very tasty, full bodied and has a nice and persistent final. A very balanced and pleasant wine. That was, consensually, the winner of the trial!!!

  • 16,5 Points

Herdade do Cebolal 2012

. Region: Peninsula of Setúbal
. Type: Red Wine
. Producer: Herdade do Cebolal
. Grape varieties: Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional and Petit Verdot
. Alcohol Content: 13% vol.
. Price: 8 euros
Color retinta with slightly animal aroma (which also shows in taste). In the mouth is balanced and very gastronomic, although it has a short finale. It’s not a consensual wine.

  • 15,5 Points

FINAL NOTES
a) It was a good afternoon, in good company, with good food and good wines!
b) The Capítulo 2015 (surprisingly???) won. We can’t have prejudices. It was a young wine, tasty, balanced and that only costs 7,5 euros (one of the cheapest of the trial).
c) This is the magic of the blind trials: we haven’t identified the berry in the Bairrada wine. We only hit regions in about half of them. We didn´t imagine that the year of the Solar do Prado (Douro) was already 2009. The Quinta do Espirito Santo, which we assumed to know well, we didn’t identify it but the wine disappointed because it was still not well tamed.
d) The Algarve wine disappointed. This region is the less known (even for us), in wine terms. Stays the promise of a future trial with those wines.
f) The Cabriz and Monte do Zambujeiro wines were consensual. Larger companies and so they do the homework …
g) In gastronomic terms: Quinta do Espirito Santo, Cabriz, São Domingos, Monte do Zambujeiro, and Herdade do Cebolal, are the ones that endure a heavier meal. The Quinta da Cidadoura and the Capítulo are very well balanced and are well served with white meats. The Solar do Prado is the softest of all.
h ) At the end, we were very happy with the selection of wines tasted !!!

Wine4people, January 27, 2018

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