Two wines from Portugal

Crasto Vinho Tinto 2009 $14.95. This Duoro wine, made with the same grape varieties used in port, has a nice scent of oak and fruit. The taste was an explosion in my mouth. Nice full fruit flavour. This wine has an alcohol content of 14.5%, but you don’t really notice. Nice wine on its own, or with some red meat. JC89

Mateus Signature Red 2010 $8.95. Another Duoro wine, and unlike the rose, the red comes in a normal wine bottle. The wine has a subtle smell and a taste. It was a nice pepper scent with a fairly smooth taste. A nice unassuming wine that would be versatile with different cuisine. Good value. JC86

Bosco Eclipse Montepulciano D'Abruzzo

Bosco Eclipse Montepulciano D’Abruzzo 2009 $7.50. This was the table wine at a stag I went to last night. At first I couldn’t find it on the LCBO website, because when I did a search for “eclipse” I just get Mount Gay Eclipse rum, however it is under “Bosco”. However searching on winealign.com, it came up under “eclipse”, not “Bosco”. The wine had a subtle oak and fruit scent. It was fairly smooth with a pleasant taste. Like the majority of Italian table wines I’ve come across, not a bad value. JC85