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!

Vinha do Marco White

When strolling around the supermarket shelves in mainland Portugal - the Madeira and Azores islands supermarkets and respective wines must be left to another post when I've got the opportunity to visit them again - one can notice that from each supermarket chain to another there are some household wine names that immediately strike the pattern of the low cost - and sometimes low quality - wine.

The Vinha do Marco is one of those wine brands known for its not so good quality, among others that are going to subject of analysis by this blog.

This Vinha do Marco presents itself with a light citrus yellow color - a little touch of gold here and there - resembling a diluted watercolor. In the nose, as it gets warmer, good floral, lemony and voluptuous tropical fruit aromas mixed with fresh melon scents. In the mouth its very fresh, average balance, where one can notice some light tropical fruit but the resilient acidity in the final part of the tasting does not help to get it up a notch and therefore one cannot expect too much from this wine from such low price it bears in the label.

Although it deserves a 8.5 and one can say it is almost a zurrapa. Saved by the smell... lost by the acidity.

AVIN0767795630231

Lezíria White

Lets set the carton boxed wines for a moment and give way for the first bottled zurrapa candidate. Besides I've got some carton wine options in stock in the refrigerator as I type so don't distress.

Lets proceed to taste the Lezíria White (no year) produced by the Adega Cooperativa de Almeirim, coming directly from the Ribatejo hot plains bordered by the Tagus river in the North.

It shows off a dark citrus colour filled with golden tones and with hints of ligth green.

At 7-8 ºC a very intense citric aroma like you're peeling a lemon but more acidulate. As the temperature rises it starts showing some signs of tropical fruit but yet undefined. Waiting for it to reach the 15ºC nothing more defined comes into the nose fruit wise.

On the mouth some consistent tropical fruits can be grasped but only on the first 2 seconds after the entry. After that one can feel some high acidity specially on the sides of the tongue - where in theory it should be sensed - but not that high that it turns unbearable. It travels consistently up to half a tongue leaving a sligth creamy note over it. It leaves a vegetable aftertaste in the palate.

For the first bottle review of a candidate zurrapa i'm dissapointed in a good way because it was indeed an acceptable wine. Does not go up in the scale because of the acidity and the nose / mouth unbalance. Above of all its a fair wine that pairs good with a grilled fish with a high fat content or even some fried fish.

Casal da Eira White

For the second entry I present to you the white counterpart of the inaugural Casal da Eira. Like its ancestor 'bottled' in an easy to open carton.

Shows up the glass with a citric and pale yellow almost transparent 'water-colour' aspect. In the nose a quite fresh and intense lemon mixed with white fruit pulp. Really not bad in the nose given that we are appreciating it at 12ºC. A mere 2ºC above that temperature and the aromas start to go less enjoyable and more acidulate. I wonder how it goes on in the palate...

Here things get quite aggressive. One can feel some inicial citrous freshness but after that hint it all goes pretty much unbalaced and quite but quite quite acidulate. It holds up to 1/2 of tongue and leaves a fresh dangerously bordering the zesty aftertaste.

I think it holds up better in some clams!

In the side of the carton it says it has a citrous colour (checked), fresh (well if you take from the refrigerator it sure is) and fruity. In this last item I cannot be too sure but only if you taste it in the temperature interval between the 10º and 12ºC.

Thinking upon all the white wines I've tasted so far I could not grade anything above 5 for this wine. What saves it from a poorer review is the quite good nose profile below the 12º C or else it would be worse.