Douro

…beginning in Portugal Quinta Nova Reserva Terroir Blend 2015, Douro, Portugal (£16.48 Portugal Vineyards) Smells like a port winery at vintage time, the air thick with heady aromas of berries, cassis, violet and herbs, buoyant, spicy dark fruit flavours in abundance and a backbone of citrus freshness and ripe tannin […]

A mixed bag of reds from around the world…

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Altano Douro White 2016, Portugal (£8.50-£9.99 Tanners, The Wine Society, winedirect.co.uk, Auriol Wines) Like a herb-strewn Sauvignon Blanc bolstered by some spicy, grapey notes and with hints of woodsmoke, vanilla and [pretentiousness alert] carbon steel, really interesting youngster. S- Esporão Reserva Branco 2015, Alentejo, Portugal (£13.99-£15.99 Cambridge Wine Merchants, Field […]

Two Portuguese Whites – Douro & Alentejo

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Quinta Nova Unoaked Douro Tinto 2015, Portugal (~£13-15 Oakley Wine Agencies) Young, bouncy, Tigger-like wine, lots of dark fruit flesh pepped up by notes of ginger and orange peel, juicy and vibrant with punch and power, but supported by a framework of tannin and citrus freshness. Very tasty youngster. S(-)

Quinta Nova Unoaked Douro Tinto 2015, Portugal

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Quinta Nova Douro Rosé 2016, Portugal (~£15 Oakley Wine Agencies) Pale in Provence rosé fashion, with similar peach-infused red berry flavours (think peach Melba) but perhaps not the complexity and saline bite of the best wines. But still a decent, delicate, fresh, summer day wine. B

Quinta Nova Douro Rosé 2016, Portugal

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Guigal Gigondas 2011, Rhône, France (£24.26 Chordale Wine Merchants, Bubbles And Wine Ltd, Roberts and Speight Ltd, Portland Wine Company, Fenwick Ltd, R Campbell & Sons Ltd, Clifton Cellars, Hailsham Cellars, Liquorice) Dumb initially, this opens up over the course of a couple of hours to reveal its core of […]

Assorted reds from France, South Africa & Portugal

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