Tasting - Boas Vinhas Tinto

Name: Boas Vinhas Tinto

Variety: 40% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz, 30% Alfrocheiro (red blend)

Region: Dao

Country: Portugal

Year: 2009

Price: $9.95

Winery Review:

Deep bright violet and red color. Rich in aromas of red fruits such as plums and strawberries. Its intense yet docile and fleshy taste fills the palate without roughness, leaving a pleasant sensation.

Ned's take: 

WOW!!  That was my first reaction when I tasted this wine. I wasn't able to pick up anything or think about taste with the first mouthful; it was simple bliss. Now I knew what Boyer meant when he said that everyone will find a wine that makes them realize this wine thing is something special. For me, this was the wine that changed the game. After the initial shock, I worked to really analyze the taste and feel. To start, I loved the deep rich color of this blend. From the beginning, and all the way through, the wine is smooth and balanced. I was surprised that the flavor could be so rich and complex, but work together to make it well rounded and easy to just enjoy. This tinto had dryness to it but it was balanced out by great fruit flavor. The review mentions plums and strawberries, but I wasn't able to pick out anything particular. Regardless, the fruit flavor was deep and succulent (used simply for lack of a better word). My favorite thing about this wine is the balance that I described. There are great, complex flavors and aromas all the way through that cancel out the dryness that I usually have trouble ignoring in reds with a lot of flavor. I had preconceived notions of red wine based on my previous experiences, small as it may be, and this changed those. I was used to having either a wine that was strong in flavor and overpowering dryness/bite or one that was muted but pleasant to drink. It's still hard for me to think that this wine made me a believer in red wine and convinced me to abandon my bias towards white wine (not completely, but that may very well change). Additionally, this wine showed me the value and importance of mixing grape varieties. Most of the wines I have tried were specifically one type, but now I see that blending offers possibilities that can't be found in single variety wine. Even though I had bought a wine the day before, I knew that I had to bring this one home to try again. I'm looking forward to sharing it with people and seeing if they love it as much as I did. You may think I'm blowing this wine out of proportion and you may very well be right, but each wine is something different for each person. This wine was special for me, probably in part because it was the first wine that I fell in love with, but it doesn't make it a masterpiece. Feel free to write my review off as the naivety of a neophyte wine drinker, but I'm definitely going to use this wine as a standard to judge the wines that I taste going forward.

Tasted without food