Doubts about the Douro

 I am not particularly conversant with Portuguese wine but on something of a whim recently I bought a bottle of Feuerheerd's Anchor Wine Reserve Douro DOC as part of a '25% off 6 bottles' promotion in Sainsburys.  At the time the bottle listed at £11.00 was reduced to £10.00 so, with the promotion, in effect it only cost me £7.50.  To be fair, I had seen mention of this wine a few times before this and two things clearly stood out - the somewhat unusual presentation with the paper wrapping around the bottle and reviews that suggested this was something of a 'marmite' wine which punters either loved or hated.  The presentation certainly reflects a determination on the part of the producer to make it stand out but the mixed reception from those who had bought it was intriguing and was ultimately the reason I added it to my trolley.

The wine is produced and bottled by Barão de Vilar in the Douro valley upstream from Porto and while the company was only established in the current form in the 1990s great play is made of family tradition since 1620 and passing on wine making knowledge from one generation to the next. In fact, this is a wine that reflects the region's diversification from fortified port to the production of still table wines largely from the same base grape varieties.  In this case it is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touring Franca, and Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo) fermented in stainless steel before ageing for 12 months in vintage port barrels. The result is a wine deep red in colour with intense aromas of black fruit, concentrated flavours with notes of spice and vanilla, and a long finish.  The Sainsburys website declares it is a "smooth, round and luxurious wine" and, while you probably can't really argue with the first and second adjectives here, to claim that it is a 'luxurious' wine is somewhat stretching credulity.  Personally, I found it rather sweet and plumy and the intensity of flavours not particularly subtle. There is nothing particularly offensive about it but nothing particularly sophisticated either.  In short, at £7.50 it is definitely worth a punt but, with wine prices increasing exponentially in 2023, I think there are plenty of more interesting red wines around once you get to £10.00 and beyond.