Encosta da Serra White

After an extended halt on the reviews - that doesn't mean that wine has not been consumed in the middle - we're back to the world of tetra brick packaged wine.

Today's subject is the White counterpart of Encosta da Serra Red.

Visually it has a nice appeal. It seduces the eye with a nice and open gold-straw yellow in the glass.

On the nose something is quite wrong... what at beggining seems like a hard citrous scent turns out to something similar to a young vinegar. Picture a heavy iron 'perfume' - think of a railway yard where in a nearby track a train set has just performed an emergency break - telling me that some oxidation or another strange chemical reaction is taking place here.

I've even poured it in to another glass just to make sure that the washing had nothing to do with it. In the mouth terror ensues... and its proven. Greatly unbalanced, the iron taste is not negligible accompanied by citrus notes and an all over the palate watery sensation.

The wine is very short, 1/4 tongue tops and leaves an apple aftertaste. At all a true zurrapa. It gets 2 and not a 1 of ultimate zurrapa because of the good visual and the citric aromas and palate that somewhat manages to appear.

Stay tuned for the next tastings involving wine from local Alentejo region delicatessens that populate the Lisbon metropolitan area.

More Wine tastings are on the way, faithful readers!

Encosta da Serra Red

Lets step back to wines from cartonland.

Today's special is 'Encosta da Serra' red. Once again packed in a carton with an easy to open fashion, but with the perk of having a Tetra Prisma hexagonal shape. Swanky!

It has a pretty closed strong red with hints of violet. And to be honest it starts on the wrong foot. Even at 10ºC it has a strong alcoholic and, how should I name it... rancid nose. Yes rancid like it has been through an strong oxidation process. Imagine a rusty piece of pointy metal and stick it some centimeters away from your nose and you've got it right. Letting it warm up a bit the picture does not get better in the frame and it just spews out vegetable and olive like scents from the glass.

Something tells me that it going to be a nightmare in the mouth...

Bingo! Tasted around 17ºC its awful in the mouth.. really awful! Starting by the gigantically unbalanced acidity, that will leave your taste buds asking for mercy. Nothing else can be distinguished in the palate besides the already mentioned acidity and the strong alcoholic traits.

On the package side it has the nerve to inform us of the following:

For those less proficient in the Portuguese language here goes my rough translation:

"Encosta da Serra is a wine of excellent quality produced from the finest grape types.

It's pleasant aroma is at your table thanks to this package specially conceived to guarantee the best protection against light and air.

Easy to transport and to store, this package seals in its interior all the original richness that best describes this Encosta da Serra wine."

Even for someone with few experience with the wine tasting knows that some of the text in the side of the carton does not check with reality, specially what is concerned with the 'pleasant aroma'.

The package doesn't even mention from

we're on earth the grapes came from - let me remind you that the 'Casal da Eira' had the

dignity to inform you that you're about to consume a wine produced with wines from different wineries

of the European Union.

It holds slightly better when accompanied with the chicken vindaloo cooked earlier but that

doesn't make it any good.

You better forget this even for cooking unless you're dealing with a very strongly scented

meat - wild boar, hare, pheasant or deer just to name a few.

I'm proud to attribute my lowest rank (1) making this one the mighty king of zurrapas to

date.