Alicante Bouschet Brachetto Petite Sirah Portugal 750ml

Brachetto is a delicate red wine grape grown predominantly in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, where it has been cultivated and used in the production of a range of wines for centuries. The grapes usually hold delicate flavors of summer berries, most notably strawberries, and are used to make light bodied, extremely drinkable wines perfect for hot sunny days. Their thin skins mean that they are usually low in tannins, which results in a silky smooth, mild red wine. Because of their lightness and fresh, summery flavors, they are also used to make excellent sparkling wines, similar to a Lambrusco. They are a highly aromatic grape varietal, and in recent decades they have started to be planted in many New World countries with similar climatic conditions to their native Italy.

Petite Sirah was first brought from France to America in the 1880s. It later went on to become one of the only grapes to make it through the devastating Phylloxera virus in the 1890s, both World Wars, and the Great Depression. During Prohibition, it was a main ingredient used to make sacramental wines. In fact, through the 1960s it was a major blending grape in a number of the finest wines produced in California.

By itself, a bottle of Petite Sirah usually has no problem making a quick impression on consumers. With a large amount of natural color and tannins, wines made with the grape commonly feature intensive sweet fruit characteristics like fresh raspberry or blackberry jam, black pepper spice, and plenty of backbone or structure.

There are a number of different styles available. Some concentrate on highlighting fresh, fruity flavors; others are bigger, more voluptuous; and it keeps going up the ladder until you reach the powerful, more machismo-style category.

Benefiting from both the hot, dry Iberian climate as well as brisk Atlantic winds, Portugal is a perfectly situated country for vineyard cultivation and wine production. With a wine making history which stretches back thousands of years, it comes as little surprise that wine plays an important role in the cultural identity and practices of the country. The Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks and the Romans all had a hand in forming Portugal as an important center for wine production, and over the millennia, this resulted in each region of this beautiful part of Europe producing its own distinctive wines easily identifiable and separate from neighboring Spain's. Today, the varied terroir and climate across Portugal allows a great range of wines to be made each year, from the fresh and dry Vinho Verde wines to the famous and widely drunk fortified Port wines, and many in between.