Portuguese Wine Tasting at Exquisite Marlow

An intimate tasting with only a dozen people, which meant we could really talk about the wines and listen to what others thought.

We started the evening with a beautifully pale pink rose from Lua Cheia. The vines are so old they don't know what grapes they are. pronounced aromas of peach, roses and strawberry sweets. Beautifully light and refreshing with subtle wild strawberry and mint flavours with a vanilla finish. Reminiscent of a sunny day with your feet dangling in an outdoor swimming pool. At £9.60 its worth a try for something different from Portugal.







Another wine worth trying is the Quinta do Alto Premium Selection at £21.60. This is a very deep wine wit high intensity. Full-bodied but elegant with high refined tannins. The black spiciness of the wine ends with a lovely raspberry finish. This has won lots of awards, including from International Wine Challenge.





The Cartuxa from Alantejo at £30 was the wine of the night. Beautifully complex and rounded, this is a special wine and best served with BBQ meats. Alantejo is a region that is mostly machine-harvested which means you can get outstanding wines for reasonable prices.

As is often the case at wine club tastings the audience outvoted me. The other guests preferred EA by the same producer as Cartuxa and with the same grape varietals. Much more of an easy-drinking wine, this wine has been designed for the UK market, both the wine inside and the label outside the bottle. At £12.60 I will certainly agree with the consensus that this wine is good value for money.





The next tasting at Exquisite in Marlow is 23rd March 2017 8-10pm £20. Please note, I only reviewed four of the six wines we tasted, and I certainly feel the event is good value for money. Places are limited so please book in advance.

To find out more about Princess and the Pinot and our pop-up wine bars please visit www.princessandthepinot.com