Tasting - "Santola Vinho Verde"

 

Vinho Verde wine from The Vintage Cellar's free Saturday wine tasting today.

Name of the Wine: Santola Vinho Verde

Grapes in the Wine: mixture of Loureiro and Pederña grapes

Country of Origin: Portugal

Region of Origin: Minho, Portugal's northernmost wine region (also called the 'Vinho Verde region)

Vintage Year: n/a

Price: $8.95 per bottle or $4 for 5 oz glass

Review of the Wine: It is listed as an 86 by Wine Enthusiast, and the Vintage Cellar describes it as, "soft and creamy, although with just the right Vinho Verde bite, this is a crisp and clean wine, boasting light pear and pink grapefruit flavors. Off dry and very fresh." The Vintage Cellar Free Wine Tasting Handout 1/21/2023

Wine Folly: Page 184: Vinho Verde

Lemonade, pink grapefruit, lime zest, yellow apple, and white blossom flavors. Fruity and can be found as white, rosé, and red. Pairs well with fish, mango salsa, and anything that has cilantro and limes. It can be made with many different types of Northern Portuguese grapes, such as alvarinho, arinto, trajadura, loureiro, espadeiro, and padeiro to name a few.

My Review: I went to my first wine tasting today with some other friends from the class, which was held at The Vintage Cellar. The white Vinho Verde was the first wine on the list today it was light and a bit acidic. I didn't quite like it at first, I thought it was too tart. However, I thought that it tasted interesting with this cheese that the store had on the charcuterie board to taste with it. It had some kind of berry mixed into it, and I thought that paired very well with the grapefruit and apple tastes present in the wine. It was very fruity in general, but somehow that did not translate into a very sweet taste. This is interesting to me because even though I have tasted fruity foods that aren't sweet (certain candies such as sour patch kids leap readily to mind), I think I had a kind of bias in my mind where fruity = sweet. I did taste some pear in it, but all of the flavors are blended together and I didn't quite taste anything specific except maybe the grapefruit and lemon. I liked it better with the cheese, but after I became more used to the flavor, I liked it on its own as well.