Light straw-yellow color; flowers, orange peel, green apple on the nose; bright fruits, citrus, minerals, banana (small bananas, red bananas—not the big honkers found in every supermarket) on the palate.
There is touch of vegetable, expected from grapes picked green, but is intriguing hint, not distracting intruder.
Full body, fills the mouth with vivid, tangy fruit flavor, great acidity (3.2 pH), great balance between acidity and 11.5% alcohol (on high end of Vinho Verde style), nicely extended finish with the minerals continuing to appear. Extra time on the lees gave this more complexity than typical Vinho Verde region bottling. Very nice wine.
Although this comes from the Vinho Verde region of northern Portugal, it cannot be labeled Vinho Verde. To be so labeled, you must be 100% alvarinho grapes from the sub-zone of Melgaço. This is not. This is blend of two most iconic grapes of the region—alvarinho and trajadura. And it is rich and delicious, a step past Vinho Verde (as superb as Vinho Verde can be).
Wines from Vinho Verde region may be the perfect summer sippers. Typically low alcohol, flavorful, delightful when well chilled, usually at an excellent price point—$10 or so. Quinta do Regueiro Alvarinho Trajadura is most of that, but richer and more sophisticated. You could sip in the summer around the pool, but even better you could sip inside in air conditioned comfort as prelude or accompaniment to a summer meal of white fish, salad, light pasta, even sushi and sashimi.
Portuguese wines are incredible bargains and superb from light whites through serious reds. Do your palate and your pocketbook a favor and look for some. $13-17
Second, third photo: Vinho Verde location, Vinho Verde vineyard
