Fast facts:
- 2017 Quinta Do Portal, Riserva Red, Douro Valley, Portugal ($10.99 @ Costco, California – Item #670474)
We are recently back from a tasting trip to Portugal, so finding this wine at Costco was a real treat. One sip and we were transported eight time zones back to our tastings in Alentejo. Even some winemakers there, several hours south of the Douro Valley, import grapes from the Douro, which is where this wine hails from. Although prices have risen some, Portugal – and Spain – remain two of the best countries of origin for wines with QPR so high the air gets thin!
Tasting Notes:
In the glass, the wine pours a medium-deep purple with ripe dark fruit on the nose. The wine is full-bodied with smooth tannins, youthful and juicy in the mouth. Flavors of black cherry, plum, blueberry, and some dark chocolate. Nice toasty vanilla coke notes on the finish.
Douro Red wines range in style from light and fruity to lush and smooth to dark and dense with flavors of mature dark fruit.
Like this one, the wines are often an inky purple due to the thickening of the skins from the intense summer heat (which is only partially moderated by the Douro River) of the region.
Most of the best made reds from the region come from the larger port houses where the skill of the winemakers go back for generations.
The first time you see the Douro region you might ask: “how can wine be made in such rugged terrain?.” It is an amazingly beautiful area, with hillsides covered in terraced vineyards. Some larger winemakers have started converting their areas into tourist destinations and wine hotels. If your budget will allow it, we highly recommend The Yeatman Hotel in Porto and their adjacent wine museum.
As you have probably noticed, we review nearly every wine bottled under the Kirkland Signature label. That is not only because they tend to have really good QPR, but also because they are distributed in Costco stores uniformly. Finding branded wines such as this can be “hit or miss” due to different regions of Costco stocking different wines. Here’s to hoping you have a hit, and not a miss, with this 90 point “hit”!
Need More Wine Picks from Costco – or Trader Joe’s Even?
If your wine shopping excursions land you in Costco, prepare by grazing our most recent reviews of Costco wines here in our Lucky 13 list.
And if your shopping finds you at Trader Joe’s, you can find our Lucky 13 list of TJ’s wine here.
Happy hunting.
Cheers!
I always thought Colheita was a port. Your pics say this is a Colheita, not the riserva red so I’m doubly confused!
This is definitely not a port