This was a Texas Wine Club selection (website) since I haven’t been to Adega Vinho in Stonewall, Texas (website).
The tasting card that came with this one says:
“Pordosol has become an award-winning mainstay of the Adega Vinho’s yearly wine line up. This Bilger Family favorite blends their two favorite vines, tempranillo and Mourvèdre in an Adega Vinho 50/50 blend. Pordosol means “sunset” in Portuguese and we believe its is bet on your porch, tailgate or anywhere that you can watch our beautiful Texas sun drop beneath the Texas Hill Country.”
It’s noted that this is a non-vintage wine bin fermented and aged in French and American oak.
The notes said it went well with grilled steak or chicken – so I paired it with a grilled lemon rosemary chicken and roasted cauliflower with Montreal seasoning. (And yes, Kale)
It has a good berry scent and both the scent and flavor could be described as “jammy.” There’s a small hint of spice and sand in the flavor.
The tempranillo hits first and is very tart and astringent (dry), but became a bit like vinegar on the back of my tongue. So this is a wine that I believe needs food – and I can’t sit on my tailgate and sip.
However, it was excellent with the Montreal seasoning on the cauliflower and really brought out the tempranillo.
The lemon rosemary chicken brought out the Mourvèdre and the seasonings made the wine sweet.
Final Thoughts
As I said before, this isn’t one I’d just sit and sip. It did go well with the caramel brownie I splurged on eating – I deserved it after eating kale. And surprisingly, it didn’t go bad with the kale either – but that might have been the healthy dose of Montreal seasoning my husband added. However, many wines don’t go with strong green vegetables and tend to bring out the bitterness in them. This didn’t.
Now I wouldn’t go so far as to say you could pair this wine with your greens and fried chicken for Sunday dinner – as if your family is like mine, they won’t appreciate the subtilities of the wine. (Uncle Jimmy may claim to be a wine expert but he can’t tell a blend from a varietal if it… well, you get the picture.) However, for a Thursday night when you don’t have early meetings on Friday and can sit down and enjoy a pseudo home cooked meal (thank you pre-seasoned chicken from HEB) then this wine is well worth it.
A side note – if you’re like me and still learning wine – this is an excellent blend to see how blends work – with a 50/50 blend you get the best of both grape varietals. Worth trying with a Tempranillo and a Mourvèdre with friends to see what characteristics you can catch in the single varietal versus the blend. (And a good excuse to get friends together….)
