Master of Wine: Two RED WINE Values for Around $10

Today's video will feature two red wines that caught my attention on my last trip to Costco. These are not exclusive to Costco. They can be found in other places. They also have some international presence as well. Now while I have not tasted these specific wines in prior years, I'm very familiar with the regions. These are places that generally have an excellent reputation for value and both of these wines come in at about $10. I'll provide a bit of background information on where the wines are from. I'll also provide a tasting note on the current releases. Hi, I'm Bob Polenski. I've been a master of wine for more than 20 years. I've worked in the wine trade for more than 40 years and I make YouTube videos as often as I can. The first wine up is the 2019 Canta do Portal Mural Reserva from the Douro Valley in Portugal. This is a family-owned wine property. In 2019, it was a very good vintage in the Douro. Quite plentiful, much more so than the prior couple of vintages. This wine has also received plenty of very good press coverage. The wine is currently being sold on promotion through late September at $8.99 from the usual price of $12.99 per bottle. The wine shows very good color density with just a bit of fade at the edge of the glass. So this is a bit of a surprise. While screw caps are very common in the wine world, they're not all that common with wines from Portugal. It's the primary supplier for wine corks in the world and really don't see a whole lot of this with red wine. So this is an interesting start. Now the blend on this wine is very typical of what you'll find in the region. It shows it's Tinta Rojas 40%, which is the same as Tempranillo, Torriga Franca, and Torriga Nacional. The magic in this is Torriga Nacional. It really is the basis for many of the great wines from Portugal. Now this is from the Douro. This is an area that's a bit north of Lisbon. The fame there is all based on port, but in recent years it's been producing some of the very best red wines in Portugal and some of the wines are just absolutely world-class. So there's some stunners coming from from that part of the world and oftentimes the values can be just tremendous. Now for the wine that I just poured, I'll tell you the color on this looks really good. No issues with that whatsoever. It looks solid and this wine has five years age to it. So the color density is good and it extends to the rim of the glass, which is just great. The aroma, Houston we have a little bit of a problem. This wine is showing a very reductive character. It's kind of closed. A little bit that it is showing is a little stinky and not all that pleasant. This happens sometimes with with red wines under screw cap. I'm going to give this a little bit of air, typically a little bit of aeration. That'll blow off and all the positive attributes will show. So I'm going to set this aside. Let's move along to wine number two. The second wine up is the 2019 Villapane Barbera d'Aste Superior from Piemonte, Italy. There have been many outstanding recent vintages in this part of the world and 2019 is no exception. The wines from this vintage generally display a good level of ripeness while retaining adequate acidity. This offering is being sold at $9.99 per bottle. As is typical with Barbera d'Aste, the color is moderately deep red at the core with a bit of fade at the edge of the glass. So for years Barbera has been the go-to wine for me. I find it being fantastic value in many cases. I love it. It goes with a broad range of foods. But if you're shopping for it, generally there's two that you'll see with some degree of frequency and that being Barbera d'Aste and Barbera d'Alba. A little different in style, speaking in very general terms, typically Barbera d'Aste will be a little lighter bodied, brighter fruit character and more lifted aromatics and generally a little less concentration. Barbera d'Alba, sometimes a little bit of a bigger, heartier style. But again, speaking in very general terms, Barbera is the most broadly planted grape variety in Piemonte and if you go to that region you'll find it far and wide. Restaurants, everyone's drinking it. If you're doing it a big, maybe you're doing Barolo or Barbaresco, but day-to-day it's generally Barbera or Dolcetto. Now with this example, the color looks as it should. It's just moderately deep. There's a little bit of fade as you get out to the edge of the glass. Keep in mind this is a 2019, so it does have a few years bottle age to it. This is generally not a wine for long-term keeping. Usually five, six years from the vintage is about where you'd like to be. The aroma, there is some good intensity here. It's red fruit, a little savory spice and something that is vaguely reminiscent of rose petal. The aromatics are really quite expressive. Really good start. On the palate, I would call this medium bodied. I see by the back label, oh interesting, the back label shows 14% alcohol. I thought it actually would be a bit less, but very good presence on the palate. The bright fruit character shows through. Definitely a good smack of acidity and that's very common with this sort of wine. It really is kind of the substance that holds it all together. On the back palate, there is just a bit of tannin, but really very well integrated. Start to finish, this is a very well-made wine. Now in terms of recommendations, yeah, I think this wine is worth picking up. It's not a fantastic version of Barbera di Osti, but for $10, it's very well made from start to finish. I think the value is quite good, but this is a wine that you would want to drink over the next year or so. If you've not yet subscribed to my channel, please consider doing it right now. Hit that like button and definitely hit the notification bell. That way you'll be kept up to speed on all things happening here. All of these things very much do help get my videos out to a broader audience. It's much appreciated. At this point, let's go back and revisit wine one. The one that was showing that reduced character. It's been just a few minutes, but I've really been working this glass trying to aerate this wine. I also actually took a second glass and I went back and forth a few times as well to really try to introduce as much air as possible. Night and day difference. All of that stinky characteristic is gone. Now what you're getting is this really deep red ripe fruit character, a little bit of a blackberry character, a bit reminiscent of roasted coffee, a little that smoky note. Really smells good. I mean it's like a complete turnaround from where it first was. So keep that in mind. Should you try this wine, should you pick it up, definitely give it some time to aerate. On the palate, very nice. It's ripe, it's full, it's weighty. This real heft and structure on the palate. Nice extension as well. Front, mid, back palate. I mean just check all the boxes. The wine's really nice. It's not something that I would call overly complex and I think the characteristics that it shows are very, very pleasant, but there's not a tremendous amount of range here. But the wine is very well made. It's solid, it's hearty, it has this bold character to it and very well made from start to finish. I hope this video included a wine or two that caught your attention. If you have any questions, please post them down below. I do my very best to follow up on each and every one. As for me, I'm opting for the Portuguese Red. This has developed beautifully. I think this is going to drink well all evening long. I hope you're drinking something interesting as well and please stop back again before too long. Cheers!