Periquita from Portugal: Neither a Bird Nor a Banana, Just Plain Good

Parakeet wine? Is it related to Chiquita banana? Sort of a yes on the former, no on the latter.

Periquita does, in fact, mean parakeet in Portuguese, although I can't find an explanation of why this wine is termed "parakeet," except that it's named for an old estate that the producer acquired in the early 1800s. I'll leave it to one of you to tell me, or we can just leave it as a wine enigma (which I'm fine doing, BTW).

As an aside (and again, I'll risk alienating all of you who are lovers), I'm terrified of/really dislike birds and the thought of drinking a wine with an avian name was not overtly appealing, but there were other things that peaked my interest, so thankfully I didn't miss out on a great wine experience because of a bad name association.

Ok, since we've determined that it is NOT for the name, you may ask what possessed me to buy this wine? I know it's a weird one. The truth is that sometimes I get bored of the regular suspects and I've got to go off the reservation. Portugal is an excellent partner in crime for just these occasions -- affordable, untapped for it's non-Port wines, and pretty foreign to me (I've been all over Europe but haven't made it to Portugal yet) -- these wines are fun to explore.

Although it doesn't get the good press of it's neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, wine grapes have been grown in Portugal for about 4000 years. The tradition has been passed on from the seafaring Phoenicians in the 10th century BC to the Greeks in the 7th century BC, the Romans in the 2nd BC and even to the Moors, who defied their own law by drinking and trading in the good stuff while they ruled the area from the 8th to the 12th century AD.

To figure out the roots of modern Portuguese wine, however, we look not to these historic folks, but to the Brits. From the 1300s on they flirted with Portuguese wine whenever they had a dispute with the French and had to cut off frog wine exports. Being the clever and cunning folks they were, the English robbed the Portuguese of their winemaking traditions and had them create Port and Madeira to sate the voracious English drinking habit (lacking the climate for wine grapes, the English have been at the mercy of various nations to be key suppliers over the years). It took until the 1800s for the Portuguese to reclaim their wines and set quality standards for Port making and other wine styles (the English, looking to make a buck, frequently cared less about quality and more about volume).

After joining the EU in the 1980s, things started cooking in Portugal's wine world. But even with subsidies to create healthier vineyards and more appealing wine styles, the fact remains that Portugal is a relatively small and poor country so it's been a little slow to the export market. Beyond Vinho Verde, a young, light, refreshing wine (BTW -- the "verde" does mean green but is meant to indicate youth, not color since a large portion of Vinho Verde is actually red), I personally don't see a ton of Portuguese wine out in the market. So when I saw the Periquita, which I've read about but never had an opportunity to buy, I had to go for it.

And I'm so glad that I did. The name of this wine is a brand but also indicates a blend, since the producer, José Maria da Fonseca was aggressive in marketing it and then became synonymous with this wonderful wine. There are few examples of this in the wine world (the only other that I can think of is Château Grillet in the Northern Rhone), so I think this is a pretty fascinating wine for that reason alone.

If you're interested in the nuts and bolts, the wine is made from a blend of three native red grapes -- mostly Castelão (KAY-stay-lao) with some Trincadeira, and Tempranillo (called Aragónez here). The grapes grow on sandy soils in a maritime climate and the result is a light wine with a ton of crazy and cool flavors. Even though it clearly makes great reds, this area, the Vinho Regional of Setúbal, is much more well known more for it's sweet style wines of Moscatel (Muscat).

I'm not usually an advocate for a semi-monopoly, but this family has been making wine for 8 generations here, and has made a huge investment in cleaning up their winery and vineyards to make fresh, great wine, so I'm good on this one. I think you will be too.

So without further ado...
The Wine: Periquita
Where It's From: Vinho Regional, Peninsula de Setúbal
The Grapes: The wine notes don't give percentages, but it is made from native grapes Castelão, Trincadeira, and Aragónez (Tempranillo)
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: Moderate -- 13%
Price: $12.99

Color: Sight is your least reliable sense in wine tasting (ok, maybe hearing is less reliable, especially if you listen to the BS doled out by wine snobs sitting around you, but I digress), but this wine looked really interesting to me. It was a brownish brick in the center -- kind of dark -- and when I held the glass at an angle, it fanned out to a light rosey color with a watery rim. It seemed heavy and light all at the same time. Promising.

Smell: Raspberry, cherry, black pepper, and some other sharp, savory spice kind of prickled in my nose. There was a super-fresh smell that was like a mojito -- I guess that would be muddled mint (when they take the pestle thing and crush the mint in the glass and it smells really awesome). I smelled a little dustiness too -- probably from the Tempranillo, which I find always has that character.

Taste: I couldn't believe how light and refreshing, yet interesting this wine was! At first it reminded me of a raspberry-lime jelly candy. There was this great lavender sachet note to it and then the minty-mojito flavor came on strong. M.C. Ice asked me what the tangy-ness of the wine was (I just love that guy for putting his finger on the precise term for it -- I didn't think of it but that's exactly the right word!). It was a tangerine flavor that hit with a refreshing acid that made under my tongue water. The only downside is that the wine just shrunk on the finish. Not much there after you drank it -- however, that's also a plus if you're looking for something lighter.

Food Pairings: I sipped this wine with cheese and crackers. It was awesome with the hard Parmesan and cheddar. Given that this isn't a blockbuster of a wine, I think it's best to stick with cheeses and light appetizers (although stay away from "green" stuff like artichoke and asparagus which will clash with the citrus and floral tastes in the wine).

Drink or down the sink? Drink! This was an unusual wine and a great change from the standards. It was lighter in style but had some flavor going on. I loved that it presented me with aromas that I don't normally get to experience and that it wasn't heavy. Definitely a keeper and one to have on hand to serve when friends pop by. I love discovering wines like this and I'm excited to see what other still (not sweet) wines Portugal has to offer...guess M.C. Ice and I will have to get there for a trip soon!

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