#160 Arinto

Well the hits keep rolling. Here we have an Arinto from Quinta da Romeira (Portugal) and it becomes yet another in a string of surprises. I started this wine overly chilled (after all it was a sub $10 bottle) and I was a bit disappointed by the singular dimension I experienced. When I returned to the glass 15 minutes later everything had changed. This was an entirely different wine.

Immediately I equated this wine with a simple sauvignon blanc but there is more to it than that. Certainly the citric acidity is evident but it is a fuller wine with more balance than I had expected. As I write this I wish I had been able to leave a little wine in the bottle for the review but it truly was a shame not to drink it. I am more than a little surprised that Arinto has not caught on as a more popular grape. I consider Arinto one of my favorite under the radar white wines and put it on par with the not as obscure Spanish grape Albarino.

I regret that I served this with chicken instead of with crab cakes or a seafood salad of some sort. This wine will definitely be served here again.

I enjoy reading the WSJ wine writers Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher and was surprised that I missed this recent piece which summed up more than a few of my experiences with the quest and with this wine in particular. They closed the piece with "New is fun and often rewarding." Cheers to that!

Quinta Da Romeira Arinto