The good and bad of Portuguese red wine on the high street

A number of factors have contributed to increases in the cost of wine in the past couple of years including rampant inflation, the government's changes to alcohol duty, and additional trading barriers as a result of Brexit.  It is not surprising therefore that those of us who welcome a glass or two of wine throughout the week have to purchase carefully in order to keep within budget.  Fortunately, competition in the high street during the cost of living crisis led to many of the big players helpfully absorbing some of the additional expense and by buying wines on promotion, taking advantage of 'Buy 6 bottles get 25% off' offers, and a willingness to expand horizons it has still been possible to get pleasure from the world of wine.  In this context I have recently turned to Portugal as a potential source of value for money wines and on the whole have been pleasantly surprised.  When I consider that my past experience of Portuguese wine in this country many years ago was essentially Mateus Rosé and the odd bottle of Vinho Verde the sheer variety of what is available today is quite remarkable.  It is in this context that I offer my thoughts on the following three wines.

Animus Douro Reserva 2021 13.5%, Aldi £6.99

This is one of three Animus red wines made by Vincent Faria currently available in Aldi stores.  They include a basic Animus Red (£5.99), an Animus Douro 2021 13% (£6.49) and this Animus Douro 2021 Reserva (£6.99). They are all pretty decent but in my opinion this reserva is significantly better for the extra 50p or £1.  It comes from the beautiful Douro valley and is made from grapes traditionally used to make port.  It is full bodied with intense fruit flavours of plum and cherry and, as it notes on the label is incredibly easy to drink!  If you are looking for an attractive well-made wine for a hearty meat based meal or BBQ you cannot go wrong for this price.

BUY!

M&S Lisboa Bonita 13.5%, M&S £8

I suspect that most people are initially attracted to this bottle by the pretty label which is certainly an improvement on an earlier version.  The wine itself comes from an area north west of Lisbon not far from the Atlantic coast and, like most Portuguese red wines, is a blend of various grapes.  It has been aged in oak for 6 months which results in a smooth, soft and balanced wine.  With flavours of ripe berries and plum it is a tasty wine with immediate appeal.  It seems that M&S are promoting this as a mass appeal, high selling wine.  With an initial RRP of £11 it was discounted to £7.35 just prior to Easter and is currently selling for £8.  It is certainly  worth this and probably worth the extra £1 on the Animus Douro Reserva above for the label alone!

BUY!

Azinhaga de Ouro Tinto Reserva 2021, Lidl £6.79

 

Unfortunately I found this bottle from Lidl rather disappointing in comparison to the other two.  Similar to the Animus wine it is made from grapes grown along the Douro valley but it was unexpectedly thin and didn't have the same concentration of fruit displayed by the others.  It was disappointingly musty on opening and perhaps I hadn't anticipated such a relatively basic wine needed to be opened in advance. However, the remaining half bottle still failed to impress the following day.  So I'm afraid to report this Lidl wine fails to make the cut.

AVOID!