Two Red Wines

I made a quick trip to Houston this weekend to explore two red grape varieties with my daughter Meredith and my parents, three generations of wine aficionados. The wines we tasted were a 2007 Francis Coppola Alicante Bouschet and a 2006 Tinto da Anfora from Portugal. Both of these wines with the grape varieties Alicante Bouschet and Alfrocheiro proved challenging to locate but Robert Emery at Goody Goody's liquor store in Addison once again came to my rescue. The Coppola Alicante Bouschet was surprisingly good with a medium bodied texture and fruity aromas such as red currants and cherries. Pulled pork sandwiches and roasted vegetables pair well with this wine. "No matter what color their skins, the great majority of wine grapes have clear juice. Very few have red colored juice; the French call these types teinturier, literally "dyers". One of the most famous and widely-planted is a wine grape cross, Alicante Bouschet, created by a French father and son vine breeders." (http://www.winepros.org). Alicate Bouschet was also popular in California during prohibition. The intensely colored wine could be diluted and still taste good.

The second wine that we tasted was the Tinto da Anfora from the Alentejo region of Portugal. It is a blend with 5% Alfrocheiro and these grapes making up the balance: Argonez, Touriga Nacional, Trincaderia, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was a dark ruby color with a plummy, ripe fruit, rustic, earthy aroma. We discussed Tyler Coleman's definition of the 'arc'. "You need to pay attention and try to capture the entire arc of the wine. The best wines have a beautiful arc. The arc is broken down into three states: the "attack", the midpalate and the finish. Think about plotting this on any X-Y axis and sketching at what point the wine is most intense. Many young wines today are all attack and then fall flat." We all agreed that the Tinto da Anfora definitely fell flat on the finish but we would look forward to opening another bottle of the Alicante Bouschet for our next family tasting.