There seems to be a lot of national this and national that days, many of which I simply ignore but when I was informed that it was National Red Wine Day on 28th August, I got a little excited as I am rather partial to a glass or two of red wine, be it a light and fruity Pinot Noir, a smooth Spanish Rioja or superb French Cote du Rhône or Bordeaux.
So, I thought it only fitting to raise a glass of Porta 6 from Portugal this National Red Wine Day for a change and to try something a little different.
Porta 6 has a range of great-tasting, well-priced and widely available wines in all the main supermarkets here in the UK so it’s easy to get your hands on a bottle.
Their distinctive and unique labels which stand out on the shelf, feature a painting by street artist Hauke Vagt that showcases a slice of Lisbon life which can best be described as a sun soaked, relaxed scene with one of the city’s famous yellow trams.
Originally from Germany, Vagt settled in Lisbon in the early 1990s, where he promptly fell in love with the city and its relaxed lifestyle. Selling his paintings to tourists outside the Castle of St. George, he probably never imagined that this particular image would find itself on wine shelves around the world.
Although the popular Porta 6 Red Wine is complex, with red and wild berries and hints of nuts, it has a soft mouthfeel with a medium finish and is full of ripe forest fruit flavours, pairing particularly well with pasta, red meats and those popular Sunday roasts.
Sales of Porta 6 Red Wine went through the roof after celebrity chef James Martin said it was one of the nicest reds he had tasted in ten years of BBC Saturday Kitchen. The subsequent scramble to buy it apparently broke the Majestic website, who have since then sold tens of thousands of bottles of this bold, juicy and easy to drink red wine which won an IWC award for the 2020 vintage in 2022.
Porta 6 Red Wine retails from £8.25 for a 75cl bottle, ABV: 13.5%, and is available from: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Co-op, Waitrose, Morrisons and Majestic.
The slightly more expensive Porta 6 Reserva Red Wine is made from a blend of 40% Syrah, 20% Alicante Bouschet, 20% Cabernet and 20% Touriga Nacional grapes. It is also a complex, concentrated wine with rich flavours of red fruits, berries and dried fruits. But it is a fruity, smooth and mellow red wine with a medium finish and touch of spice, pairing well with red meat roasts, barbeques and mature cheeses.
Porta 6 Reserva Red Wine retails for £14.99, ABV: 14%, and is available from Majestic.
Believe it or not it was International Boxed Wine Day yesterday, so you can have a double celebration with Porta 6’s red wine as it’s also now available in a 2.25 litre bag in box available from Tesco and Sainsbury’s, priced from £20.
Simon Burrell is Editor of Our Man On The Ground, a former member of The British Guild of Travel Writers and professional photographer.
Photographs courtesy of Porta 6 (Vidigal Wines)
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