Today’s wine is from a relatively new, not all too popular and very rural viticulture region half way between Lisbon and Faro. Today’s producer however is a real Mr. Big Shot in the Portuguese wine business: Joao Portugal Ramos. A fellow very well known for his expensive Marques de Borba Reserva red blend. So no real discovery this time, I guess!. My Trincadeira, or more often called Tinta Amarela (Red No. 3 in Portugal), isn’t that unknown either. I just think this varietal deserves a bit more recognition on international level. That’s the simple reason for today’s quick interlude.
Another synonymous name for Trincadeira is “Black Portugal”. The colour of this one might tempt me to change the name to “Brown-Red-Muddy Portugal”. The colour was very muddy with plenty of particles. Just an observation without a lot of significant importance. I hope! The nose got plenty of brown-black olives, dark-brown gravy, black pepper, smoke, hints of sweet oak flavours (reminded me of American oak, but apparently this wine spent 6 months in French oak), hints of caramel and later some coffee, too. So far a rather brown’ish impression. The taste got plenty of brown flavours as well. I tasted black-brown olives again, some coffee-caramel candy, “sweet mud” (maybe with a admixture of cream chocolate), slightly mineral earthiness, very herbal cherries and maybe some dried out brown grass. It wasn’t as spicy as my nose impression. By far less peppery and ethereal features. It was more of a smooth, vegetal and slightly fruitful wine. The concentration and finish was medium-rare. In the first hours the tannin was still present, which helped this wine enormously. Without them it would have been a bit too smooth, favourable and maybe even a bit slick. But this last sentence remains on a hypothetical level anyway. Whatever, it was a fine, maybe slightly unusual red wine experience. Right now at peak performance!
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