Wine Tasting 6 - Quinta De Chocapalpha: Castelão

 

Name: Quinta De Chocapalpha - Castelão

Variety: Castelão

Region: Vinho Regional de Lisboa

Country: Portugal

Vintage Year: 2016

Price: $17.99

Shop Review: The winemaker, Sandra Tavares da Silva, notes that this wine has an intense red color, and it is a very fruity, elegant, and charming wine with amazing sweet and silky tannins. The aftertaste is long and very fresh. Additionally, a wine critic stated that “Old Vine Castelão has produced a rich wine that is full of dense black fruits. It has the typical juicy character of the grape, full of fruitiness to go with the concentrated structure of the wine.”

Wine Folly Text: Portugal is a treasure trove of unique wines and grape varieties that are not well known outside of the country. However, long ago, the country was at the leading edge of wine technology and can claim one of the world’s first demarcated wine regions. There are 77 common native varieties here, one of which is the Castelão. Lisboa, one of the many regions in Portugal, is known for white wines such as Arinto and Fernao Pires and red wines such as Trincadeira and Alicante Bouschet. Ultimately, the climate changes drastically across Portugal, making a variety of wine styles. [pgs 264-265]

My Review: 0 (out of 5)
Sadly, this wine is getting a 0 out of 5, however, it is not the winery's fault. This was one of the weeks that my friend was supplying the wine for the tasting, and this wine came from their friend's family member's house. Long story short it was most likely not stored properly. When my friend tried to open the bottle, the cork was very difficult to remove. Eventually, he gave up trying to take out the cork, so I gave it a try and was able to successfully remove it, as seen above. However, if you look at the midsection of the cork you can see that it was disintegrating and breaking apart. This was the first sign that this wine was going to be bad.

The second sign came soon after when I decided to smell the cork. Now I paid attention to Boyer's lecture videos and remembered that he thought smelling a cork was super goofy... it is just supposed to smell like a cork. So, I put this cork up to my nose, and it smelled horribly strong of vinegar.

The third red flag came when we poured the wine into our glasses, swirled it around, and then inhaled it. The scent was overpoweringly vinegary, with a hint of off-fruity plum. Visually it looked as expected, a strong ruby-red color. 

The final sign that this wine was going to be bad occurred when we tasted the wine. Yes, we assumed it was bad, but maybe we were overthinking it. Alas, we decided to try it. The taste, straight-up acid. No flavor, just sour liquid. The worst part was the rancid taste it left in my mouth. After doing a quick google search I found that "Spoiled wine may develop a vinegar-like smell and taste due to the presence of acetic acid-producing bacteria." 

Needless to say, I only had a sip of this wine. I should try it again when it isn't spoiled, but I probably won't. This was my first, and hopefully, last, time drinking rotten wine.