Point West Touriga Nacional from Portugal (From The Northern Echo)

Point West Touriga Nacional from Portugal

12:16pm Monday 11th August 2008 in

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The Estremadura region north of Lisbon seems to be exporting more wine to the UK lately.

This is a “wine of the region” made from the famous port grape, Touriga Nacional.

It has a dark garnet red colour and a bouquet not easily identified. This is not a heavy wine as one might expect and not really suited to roast dinners, as the makers seem to think that it is best served at a cool room temperature. In which case sausage and cold meat dishes might be best.

It has a vibrant berry fruit flavour and at 13 per cent alcohol is quite smooth. The grapes were sourced from the private vineyard of the winemaker and fermented three years ago. It’s on offer at Oddbins at £6.99 Now to something completely different. It’s a long time since I tried Rosé D’Anjou and I was surprised how much improved it has been since then.

Cool fermented in the Loire Valley and bottled at 10.5 per cent alcohol, this is a very light picnic type wine. It’s made as usual from the gamay and grolleau grape varieties - a welcome change from Grenache which is so common among rosé wines.

It has a fresh fruity character to suit its bouquet. It’s worth comparing this to a Provence rosé , some people are going to prefer this. Oddbins sell it at £5.99.