Wine Recommendation
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Wine Recommendation

Joseph Filippi Winery & Vineyards NV Alicante Bouschet Port  (Cucamonga Valley)

Joseph Filippi Winery & Vineyards

NV Alicante Bouschet Port
(Cucamonga Valley)



Alicante Bouschet is one of three grapes in the world known to have dark skin as well as dark flesh. Often used as a blending grape for its colorful contribution (most red wines have gotten this way through contact or maceration with the color pigments found in the grape skins), this Teinturier is the only one of the trio that is actually vinifera. To get this grape Henri Bouschet crossed a cutting of his father’s Petit Bouschet with Grenache. In Spain it is widely planted and known as Garnacha Tintorera. The grape is high yielding and thrives in warm climates, but its redeeming quality is still typically its color.

Joseph Filippi’s port version, however, brings the grape to new and highly aromatic heights. Bright, saturated ruby to garnet with amber highlights and unctuous in the glass, this fortified wine immediately engages the nose with aromas of fresh baked pastries, chocolate shop, chocolate truffles, mocha, black currant, cherry, Sambuca, pine resin, and molasses. Intense, round and rich, this decadent dessert wine has flavors of forest berry jam, mocha, vanilla, chocolate, and some woodsy notes. The finish is very long.

Reviewed July 24, 2007 by Catherine Fallis.

The Wine

Winery: Joseph Filippi Winery & Vineyards
Vintage: NV
Wine: Alicante Bouschet Port
Appellation: Cucamonga Valley
Grape: Alicante Bouschet
Price: 500ml $18.00

Review Date: 7/24/2007

The Reviewer

Catherine Fallis

Founder and President of Planet Grape LLC, a company committed to bringing the joy of wine, food, and good living into the lives of everyday people, Catherine is creator of the “grape goddess guides to good living,” a series of books, television presentations, seminars, and e-learning programs. The fifth woman in the world to become a Master Sommelier, grape goddess Catherine Fallis is still very much down-to-earth.