LCBO Sale Wine of the Week: April 4

Pessoa Da Vinha Reserva Douro (Douro, Portugal)

Sale $13.40, Regular $14.90
Discount (until April 29): $1.50
LCBO #370411 | 750 mL bottle

Tastes like: Spiced and peppery red berries, plum, black currant and raisin, with a leafy edge, a touch of violets, and a hint of vanilla and clove. Intensely flavoured, rustic and kind of wild.
Pairs with: Roast meats and game (venison, wild boar), meaty lasagna, pasta and pizza, hard cheese.
Good for: Gardening and yard work. Heck, might as well get your land ready for spring. Even if all you have is a pot with a succulent in it.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Drink: Now through 2021.

Why we're drinking this
You ever get even just a teeny bit tired of the same old Cab Sauv, Merlot, Sangiovese… Pinot Noir… (wait, we take that back; no one gets tired of Pinot…)? Noble grapes, to be sure, but it’s nice to mix it up. Welcome to your Touriga Nacional years. This is the grape better known for its use in Port wine, where it’s peppery attack and deep plum and red berry qualities are mellowed over time and a heck of a lot of wood aging and a healthy dose of spirit. In a still wine like this one, the grape is pleasantly rustic and wild, with a leafy and purple flower quality that is quite charming and unique. It ain’t no Merlot, that’s for sure! And that’s a good thing. (Not that there’s anything wrong with Merlot.)

Tasting note
Perfumed with plum, cinnamon and spiced pear, with loads of black currant and blackberry. Some raisin notes developing. The attack is a bit coarse, but the fruit is generous and delicious, so it takes the edge off. Big flavours of red berries and sweet spice, and even some cran-cherry cola. This is a dry, rustic wine with a heck of a lot of charm. It could age a few years and do interesting things. For drinking now, give it some big meaty flavours, especially some meat and tomato pastas or bold stews.

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This week's selection by kwäf Taste Bud Dick Snyder