Skip to main content

Monte da Vigia

 Monte da Vigia

Reserva 2017

vinho tinto—30%Trincadeira 30%Aragonêz

20%Alicante Bouschet 20%Cabernet Sauvignon


When you’ve been drinking coffee all day and need something to help unwind, finding the ideal red can be a balancing act—I don’t want something to go straight to my head and increase the raciness from the caffeine, now do I need much more acidity shriveling away my insides; on the other hand something low in alcohol won’t serve to calm my heart and warm the blood on a December’s night and over-sweetness is out of the question.

That said, from the first sip this affordable tinto is fruit-forward, medium-bodies and well-balanced. The linalool-rich aroma of the grape blend fills one’s nostrils, expanding to flare out like a stallion kicking in its stall as the palate thrills to this smooth nectar of ruby lambency.

Portuguese reds under twelve dollars are hit-or-miss and while I know I can never really go wrong at my neighborhood liquor store, I am really happy I made this decision with my wallet, as the fifteen-dollar Spanish red I was looking at probably wouldn’t have hit the spot quite like this.

The feeling I get as it winds its course now to my head is a nostalgic feeling of peace and youth—maybe it’s the Christmas lights or the Vaughan Williams on the stereo, but this wine feels like—coming home. After a busy week, with the heat on against the cold outside and a cozy sweater, enjoying food and family, or friends and fun, grab yourself a bottle of Monte da Vigia and screw that cork—you’ll be glad you did!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weihenstephaner Helles

           It's been a couple years since I last posted on The Discriminating Wino. Hopefully that means I've been more discriminating and less of a wino!            As you all know, Weihenstephaner is one of my favorite brews of all time! If I'm still kickin' 'em back in 2040 (and I ever get around to getting my Real ID) I hope to be in Bavaria, Germany celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the World's Oldest Brewery! You've read about their festbier in my Oktoberfest roundup from a few years back...and now in general I like a brown glass bottle, the way the Germans been makin' 'em since long before I was born, not these canned 4-packs but that's the way the industry's going and as I was on a budget I had an opportunity to revisit their Helles, which I haven't had in a while.     It's much lighter than the traditional Munich lager, which is darker and nuttier; but not sweet like a Weisse, closer to a Pilsner but...
Post a Comment
Read more

One Fine Day (OEC, Ayinger, & Raynal)

  One fine day... you’re gonna want me for your glug… Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores Oak Legend Doppelbock 9% abv 12 fl. oz. Hard to beat the Germans at their own game—scratch that; impossible. But it’s rare for an American brauerie to even play in the same ball club. OEC has some highly decent lagers and marzens, but this is probably my favorite offering from the anomalous Connecticut brewers. For starters, it’s a full-force doppel—I had some Belgian-style Canadian ale calling itself a trippel the other day that had the same alcohol content as Oak Legend —and at 12 ounces, they’ve got the Germans beat by 22 2 / 3 ml (trust my drunken math; I got 1420 on the SAT’s, stoned.) But drinking is a pleasure, not just the prosaic chore of getting drunk: it’s dark but not that dark, more nutty than chocolaty-bittersweet like many doppelbocks, the mash gives a really unique flavor, the hops are subtle and really don’t make this very heavy or spicy in-my-not-so-humble-opinion, although...
Post a Comment
Read more

Augustiner-Braeu München Edelstoff

      Perhaps the best commercially available beer imported to the States. That fruity, bittersweet taste of Münich; the sentimental languor upon your palette, soft and luxuriant, yet crisp and masculine. Outdoes even Wihenstephan.     I sit here in the warm afternoon light of late summer, nostalgic for highschool, the long nineteenth century and the Middle Ages of our Lord before all this wretched progress. At least some things are done right.
Post a Comment
Read more