A nice Spanish wine and a nice Portuguese wine

WINE TALK
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  • 1998 Señorío de Sarría Navarra Reserva - Spain, Navarra (2/11/2009)
    An unusually funky nose but a wonderful taste. The nose didn’t seem bretty but it wasn’t pleasant to smell, either. Loved the palate. Darker fruits and black cherry nice depth. And cedar/pencil shavings, especially on the finish. Maybe a tad soft, but shoiwng well. This seems like a food friendly wine. Only 12.5 percent alcohol. I liked this. Imported by Kensington Distributors of Reno, Nevada.
  • 2006 Luis B. Vegas Louro Vinho Regional Alentejano Alento - Portugal, Alentejano, Vinho Regional Alentejano (2/11/2009)
    As Roberto noted, this is an extracted wine but not too over the top. This actually went well with pizza. Maybe seems a lilttle bigger than it’s 14 percent alcohol, but still balanced. Ripe fruit gives lots of mocha and dark red fruit flavors. A little bit of meatiness, too. This isn’t a long term ager but I think this would be a little rounder and smooth in a year or two. I liked it. The grapes are alicante bouchet and touriga nacional.
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Steve,

Nice notes. One thing I notice about many Portuguese dry reds and more so, from the Douro: even with alcohol levels that are in the 14 - 15.2% (I haven’t noticed any above that level) there seems to be enough fruit, acidity and tannins to keep the alc in check. I have found almost no exceptions to that rule in the Douro. Maybe it is the great acidity in the wines that makes them so easy to sip or pair with food, but the only thing that usually can keep me from enjoying them even young is the intensity of the tannins. That requires a bit of decanting to allow them to integrate and soften a tad. I realize the wine you tried is from the Alentejo region, but there are some strong similarities in the characteristics of the two appellations … even though they share distinct differences as well.

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This was an open bottle given to me. I don’t know how long it had been open, but the tannins seemed okay.
Roberto Rogness responded to my thread on eBob by noting the Spanish wine has what he considers a very meaty nose. Blood is probably a good descriptor. I can see how some people would like it. It’s a good wine.