2010 Giesta Dao

The last time I recall having a Portuguese wine, I was at the Portuguese embassy,and more than a little hammered (true story).  That was back in the early 2000’s, and I was there for a port tasting.  After several hours of trying all the ports the great houses had to offer (and cementing eternally my love for a 20 year tawny port), the Ambassador himself came down to mingle with the guests. After mingling for a while he said a few words about Portugal, their wine industries and then opened some wine for us to try.  A grand night, and an experience I will never forget.  Unfortunately for this story, that evening was quite a bit more interesting than the wine I am about to tell you about.  

The wine is somewhat of a non-event.  Normally I like wines, or I dislike them, usually with more than a few degrees of emotion.  Sadly, this wine elicits none of that from me.  I was excited when I first poured it, the color having a bit of brickness to it, and falling on the more red, than purple side of things.  And perhaps that might be where it really fell down for me, the taste was nothing like what my eyes had already conjured....I was imagining old world wines, with a mystery and complexity that I would spend the evening unravelling on sip at a time.

This was not to be, for the wine was fairly upfront, and fully of cherry.  I don't mind a bit of fruit here or there, but when I see a nice red wine, tantalized with the knowledge that its a blend of three different grapes, I tend to expect more.  And thus the failure, it’s not a bad wine, it’s just not a great one.  Once you work through the initial impressions, you find that there isn’t too much else to it.  As I think about describing the body, the finish, the complexity the only adjectives that come to mind are medium, moderate, middling and mediocre.  While I could certainly continue documenting its lack of interest further, but that would only be serving as an excuse to find how many more alliterations I could use, having developed a sudden fondness for them.  A fondness  that surely was developed by the hole in my affections left by this vintage.

2010 Giesta Dao

I was at a conference last week and met a few wine-loving folks while there. After talking with them about wine and enjoying a fantastic dinner at Shula’s Steak House, I was inspired to review another wine. We have a handful of bottles marked for review and tonight the figurative spin of the wheel led us to open the 2010 Giesta Dao from Portugal.

The facts:

2010 Giesta Dao
Variety: 32% Touriga-Nacional, 45% Tinta-Roriz (Tempranillo), and 23% Jaen

Region: Portugal
Winemaker: Nuno Cancela de Abreu

My take

The nosy is a spicy reddish purple. In a way, I’d say the nose is somewhat misleading. I didn’t get purple when tasting this one (and for me that’s a good thing), but the more the wine opens up, the less spicy it gets. What you do get is a full-bodied, juicy (dare I say chewy?) wine that feels rather new-world in terms of style. You get a burst of pinkish red fruit up front (that’s the new world I’m talking about) with a bit of spicyness in the middle, and a relatively long finish. The wine is not at all dry. To the contrary, it’s rather silky smooth going down.

In the end, it’s not overly interesting, but not one-note or boring either. It’s a bit too new world style for my palate. I’d prefer less up front fullness and a little more complexity in the range of flavors. That being said, if you like a new world style wine with a velvety texture, then this one might just hit the spot.

Price Point: $13 a bottle