TN: 2006 Altano Reserva Duoro

[Mike Kerr]

I opened this a few days ago and had some with dinner.

Deep purple colour, nose of grapes, blackberry, hints of chocolate. I don't recall ever having a wine that tasted radically different than it smelled that wasn't off in some way. This wine wasn't off, but the flavour wasn't nearly as complex or full as the nose led me to believe. Whereas I can make out some distinct flavours in Port, I found it hard to do that with this wine. It was definitely earthy, dark berries, but nothing else comes to mind. Having said that, it wasn't an unpleasant flavour, I just couldn't make out distinguishing ones for some reason... Wine was juicy yet moderately tannic. I want to say it was moderately acidic, but am just learning how to detect that.

I'd like to say it's beefy enough to age another 5-10 years in the cellar with no problem. Not a light wine, but not really a beefy one either. I'd drink it again, but at the $28 I paid, I can find others just as enjoyable for half the price. Didn't perform as well as I was expecting, but maybe my expectations were high.

15/20 , but that's a guesstimate. Didn't scientifically score it.

Mike.