There are a lot of places throughout Europe to find good red wine values. A few of my go to’s are Rioja/Ribera/Toro in Spain, Chianti/Barbera in Italy, Rhone/Cru Beaujolais in France.
And Portuguese wines definitely fit the bill. They consistently overdeliver at very reasonable price points. The challenge is that they just aren’t prevalent enough.
My Total Wine store carries just a handful (mainly whites and a small selection of reds, but that’s starting to slowly increase). In all the years of running this site, we only occasionally find red wines from Portugal at Costco (2-3 a year it seems).
So this was an easy drop in the cart; a Portuguese red blend for $13.99, with a little age on it. The bottle has a nice card around its neck showing off all the high scores the wine received, including a 92 from Wine Enthusiast who named it a “Cellar Selection.”
The blend here is 50% Touriga-Nacional, 25% Aragonez, and 25% Alfrocheiro. I knew Touriga-Nacional, which is one of the most popular red varietals for Portugal but had to do a little research on the others.
Aragonez is also called Tinta Roriz and is actually the same grape as Tempranillo. Alfrocheiro (Preto), also known as Tinta Bastardinha, is a deep colored grape frequently used in blends.
And some of that deep color was evident on the pour where the wine showed a medium to deep purple color; nose of spicy black cherry; this is a big and full bodied wine; flavors of mostly dark fruit, boysenberry and blueberry with dark chocolate notes; nice acidity, dry into a finish that last forever.
This is a very nice wine that we liked immediately out of the bottle but one that got even better as it decanted. Try to let it breath 30-60 minutes before drinking it if you can. Overall, a solid Costco wine pick and a great representation of the immense value you can find in Portuguese wines today. This will be added to our Top Picks list.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 92 points (a CostcoWineBlog Top Pick)
Costco item number: 1487552
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA (Perimeter)
Alc. 14%
KC says
Must let it breathe! 60 minutes. Great buy if you can find it. Wish I would have picked up more. This was in my Costco (OH) in Nov/Dec.