Caves Alianca Quinta dos Quatro Ventos Douro
Caves Alianca Quinta dos Quatro Ventos Douro
Vintage: 2005
Region: Douro (Portugal)
Varietal: Tinta Roriz,Touriga Nacional,Touriga Franca
Alcohol: 14%
Price: $19.98
Here is another example of the unique and unusual wines that our good friends at Costco are bringing into their Alberta liquor stores. I hadn’t to this point every had Portuguese wine, other than Port so I was excited to see what a standard wine from Portugal was like. This wine is a blend of the Tinta Roriz (Tempranilo) and two new to me varietals called Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. After some research, I found out that the later two are sometimes compared like the blending of more commonly known varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Douro is also a region in Portugal that is better known for Port wines.
Coming out of the bottle, the wine had a dark, inky color to it and was wound as tight a top. I seriously struggled to ascertain any distinct aromas coming from it, straight out of the bottle. I immediately thought that this wine would be an excellent contender for the cellar as in my experience, they often are much better in a few years time when they have had a chance to mellow out in bottle. After two hours of decanting, I was able to get some plums, prunes and oak off it.
As far as taste goes, this was a very, very dry wine with mouth puckering biting tannins. This is not, I repeat not, an after work or afternoon sipper, it needs to be paired with some food to really take those aggressive young tannins down. After re sampling at the two hour mark, this wine was still pushing hard. Only the next day, after at least 12 hours of exposure to atmosphere, did this wine become what I would categorize as easily drinkable displaying plums and prunes on the palate. As well, I found it to be a tad on the one dimensional side and it just lacked the complexity that normally excites me. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good wine that I would revisit in 2-3 years but for right now, hold it and let it live in bottle a few more years.
83 points
- Caves Alianca Quinta dos Quatro Ventos Douro
- by Adrian Bryksa
- Published on September 17th, 2008
More from Adrian Bryksa:
-
O Restaurant & Lounge revisited
Calgary has a diverse set of urban communities, most of which have the ubiquitous strip mall watering hole. In the South West community of Marda Loop, a reinvention of this paradigm has been established.
-
New Years Bubbles – 3 Sparkling Wines Blind
Although most people wait to enjoy sparkling wines for celebrations or parties, I would suggest drinking them at any time.
-
Clos de Los Siete
This wine is exciting with dark, inky deep purple tones to it. With the first sniffy sniff, there is a nice blackberry component poking through with some white pepper and a nice hint of toasted oak. To stand up to this wine, match it up with some hard, old Cheddar and biscuits.
-
Wine by the glass at Vin Room
Vin Room, a wine bar and bistro has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue these days. Their expansive offerings of wine by the glass and that everyone has either went or wants to go is making this a hip spot.
-
Kendall-Jackson Jackson Estates Grown Cabernet Sauvignon
Holidays can bring a time of depression, especially when faced with the ugly truth that work is awaiting along with any salivating creditors to which ones holiday good times were funded.
-
Le Volte
Le Volte holds distinction as it is aged in the same oak barriques that previously housed previous vintages of their flagship Ornellaia and Masseto blends.
Other recent features:
-
Sónar 2010 – Barcelona, Spain
The festival attracts a lot of outsiders, but the Mediterranean, Spanish and more specifically Catalan nature of the people makes the festival what it is. Catalan people are passionate and this passion is infectious. The atmosphere is electric in Barcelona as a city and heightened by music and intoxicants at Sónar.
-
Summer Party Naval Styles at Seven RestoLounge
Oysters, like wine are affected by terroir and these Miyagi’s flavor profiles ranged with one showing a cleaner, almost tropical profile and the other being more salty, marine driven. As I was devouring the seemingly endless plates put in front of us, I sipped on a glass of fine sauvignon blanc.
-
R4NT Radio March 2010
R4NT Radio March 2010 um wow it’s been far too long since the last edition edition, featuring: Hector Hernandez, The Infesticons, Blockhead, Gramatik, Emika, Thunderheist, Parov Stelar, Eddy Meets Yannah, Anti-Pop Consortium, The Slew, Lighterthief, Andreya Triana, Parasyte Woman, Mathon, Venetian Snares, and Funki Porcini.
-
O Restaurant & Lounge revisited
Calgary has a diverse set of urban communities, most of which have the ubiquitous strip mall watering hole. In the South West community of Marda Loop, a reinvention of this paradigm has been established.
-
Predictions 2010.. and beyond!
So 2010 eh? Almost but not quite (no year zero they say) another decade? It seems like just yesterday that the world was waiting for Y2K. R4NT started publishing in March 2001, so we’re not quite 10 years old yet, but in internet years we are already a senior citizen.
-
Invictus
No matter what, the reality of Nelson Mandela is something that deserves screen time. Should this film even remotely intrigue the masses to take interest in this figure, the world would likely benefit greatly from it.
