Quinta das Bandeiras Vinhos, Quinta de la Rosa & Poeira, Passagem, “The Crossing” Reserva, Douro, Portugal 2007

What’s in the bottle? The glass shows a dark, dark ruby core with a crimson rim. The deep color speaks to the warmth of the region. The powerful sun bakes these grapes all day long. The wine’s nose is intensely powerful with heavy notes of lavender, cigar box and toast. The fruit profile spans from dark red fruits to black plum. There are also hints of framboise, crushed rock and huge mineral note. The palate is unforgiving, powerful, intense and griping. You can feel the granite “soil” of the Douro grip your mouth like Madousa put a curse on your tongue. This is a truly “terrior” driven wine. Despite all of the mineral driven intensity, the tannins are soft and round. This finish is dry and dusty with great length.

Knowledge: The famous fortified wines of Portugal come from the region of Porto. The Douro region and the Porto region share the same geographical boundaries. If the wine is made in the style of port (i.e. fortified with grape sprit, giving the wine a higher alcohol content and more resi¬dual sugar) it is labeled as Port. If the wine is unfortified then it is simply labeled as coming from the Douro region. Both of these wines are made from a blend of indigenous grapes like Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Touriga Francesa to name a few.

Service: Serve in large Bordeaux shaped glasses at 60° F. Decant for a half an hour before drinking.

What to eat? This is a great wine for grilled meats, especially grilled sausage with sautéed peppers and onion. This Portuguese blend is very spicy, but low in tannin..

Retail Price: $26.99

Found it @:

The Thirsty Cellar
6324 Route 25A
Wading River, NY 11792
(631)886-2277

For the Geeks like Me: This wine has a lot of names and a long story that goes with it.  Quinta das Bandeiras Vinhos is the property in the Douro Superior subregion that the fruit is sourced from.  The wine itself is a partnership between the Bergqvist family owners of Quinta de la Rosa; and Jorge Moreira; the winemaker of Poeira. Passagem means crossing in Portuguese.  The crossing here is a great winemaker backed by a wealthy family buying fruit from a stellar vineyard.