This fine Portuguese red blend wine is a bargain at $8.99 per bottle | Phil Your Glass

Phil Masturzo, Akron Beacon Journal
·2 min read
At $8.99, the 2020 Vinha Da Coutada Velha red blend is the Phil Your Glass Value Wine of Year for 2023
At $8.99, the 2020 Vinha Da Coutada Velha red blend is the Phil Your Glass Value Wine of Year for 2023

It’s the first week of January and the holidays are over. Credit card statements with all of my jolly impulsive spending will be arriving any day now, and I’m waiting to exhale. I’m not sure about you, but I will definitely be doing a little belt tightening. If you happen to be in the same boat, we can get through this together.

One thing is certain: I will surely Phil Your Glass with a top shelf wine at a bargain bin price. There will be no 10-cent Ramen noodle packets and cheap swill.

Portuguese wines are known to be high quality and affordable. The 2020 Vinha Da Coutada Velha red blend is a wonderful example. At $8.99, it's my Value Wine of Year for 2023. This is a blend of 30% Argonez, 30% Trincadeira, 30% Syrah, and 10% Cabernet grapes. It’s somewhat rare to find a wine in this price range that has been hand harvested, destemmed before crushing and aged in French oak. But I kissed a lot of frogs to find this beauty.

Uncork all of this love and enjoy the raspberry and spiced cranberry flavors of this wine. This was great with a few slices of manchego cheese and a handful of pistachios. I sampled this bottle on several occasions and found that dried bing cherries and walnut stuffed dates were very complimentary. A carry-out order of $10 loaded tater tots and $12 short rib sliders from Moe's on Front Street proved to be a fabulous duo. There’s plenty of red fruit flavors in this bottle to compliment the zippy house-made sriracha aioli dipping sauce that comes with those yummy tots.

I'll be featuring another stellar value wine in next week's column and also give details to where I will be pouring samples of these and other great budget-friendly wines later this month.

Buy this wine at Beau’s Market in Copley, Krieger’s Market in Cuyahoga Falls, both Mustard Seed Market locations, Cornerstone Market and Gray Mart in Munroe Falls, Corkscrew Johnny’s in Richfield, Lakes Beverage in the Portage Lakes, HomeBuys in North Canton, Top Shelf of Ohio in Jackson Township, Meyer Lake Beverage and Avenue Wine Shop in Canton

You can reach Phil Masturzo at philyourglass@gmail.com and follow him on Instagram @pmasturzo_philyourglass

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Vinha Da Coutada Velha red blend rare find for $8.99 | Phil Your Glass