QUINTA DO GRADIL | Alicante Bouschet | 2018
alicante bouschet

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Tonight we are going to review a single-varietal alicante bouschet wine from the Portugal‘s famous Lisboa region – Alicante Bouschet 2018 by Quinta do Gradil. Alicante Bouschet (often just called Alicante) is a teinturier grape variety, which means that the flesh of the berry is also dark, thus the wines are very deep in color, with high amount of antioxidants, which makes them respond well to ageing. It has been created when french botanist, Henri Bouschet, crossed grenache (known as alicante in southern France) with petit bouschet (a red-fleshed grape variety). Alicante Bouschet was once widely used to tint-dilute the wine from southern France, while today it can be found in Corsica, Tuscany, Calabria, California and Spain (where it is known as Garnacha Tintorera), but mostly it is found in Portugal, where it is one of the most important red grape varieties. This particular wine has been aged for 12 months in french oak barrels and another 12 months in the bottle before it was deemed ready for release. But enough with all that theory – that said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: very deep and opaque ruby color
clarity: hazy ruby shades on the rim of the glass

//Olfactory
intensity: rich & dusty
fruit profile: black fruits | dried fruits
__black fruits: black cherry | blackcurrant | black plum | aronia berry | blackberry
__dried fruits: dried black cherry | dried black plum
fruit character: overripe & dried

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | savory | earthy
__spice: peppercorn | cloves
__oak: black tea | liquorice | roasted oakwood
__savory: iron | veal | leather 
__earthy: black soil | dust | graphite | granite | slate | petrichor
primary layer: earthy & dusty

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: high
alcohol: high
tannin: high
__grip: firm
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol
body: round | full body

//Taste
fruit profile: black fruits
fruit character: overripe
non fruit: spice & dust
finish: medium+
aftertaste: crisp

//Scoring
QUINTA DO GRADIL | Alicante Bouschet | 2018
variety: alicante bouschet
country: Portugal
region: Lisboa
rating: 93.1

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | age for 3 to 5 more years
verdict: great | a must try wine
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This is definitely a great wine of Portugal and, with a total of 93.1 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a very firm and tannic wine that tastes crisp, muscular and dusty – a wine that is still developing, thus one that requires 3 to 5 more years of bottle ageing. It feels round but grippy on the palate, with a bold and complex body, displaying exuberant acidity, ripe tannins and quite a touch of alcoholic warmth that is showing through on the mouthfeel, which forms a crisp finale. On the nose the wine delivers a nuanced dusty accent, mixed with overripe and dried black fruits in the foreground, supported by a spicy background and some subtle oakiness in between. All in all, this is a well structured and even extracted alicante bouschet wine that in its current state lacks some elegance and finesse on the palate, as it feels robust and unpolished due to its youthfulness. Judging by the wine’s structure, our recommendation is to give it a couple more years of bottle ageing in order to allow the wine develop a bit more complexity and round up its sharp edges. We believe that this wine will pair nicely with any spicy-delicate meats, like for example a peppercorn-crusted filet mignon or a rosemary-garlic rib-eye steak. Cheers!

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