1. Mateus The Original Rose (11%; http://www.Evaton.com; RS: 1.5%; Energetic Value: 71kcal|297kJ) P&B by SoGrapeVinhos/Gaia/Portugal NV: Clear glass btl w/ spiffied up label; the screw-top closure was so tight that I had to use Vice-Grips to get the cap off, even though I'd scored the screwcap collar; pale salmon color w/ lots of fizzy bubbles; rather grapey/fruity.simple/cranberry/strawberry slight soda-poppy light earthy nose; quite frizzante some off-dry rather soft rather grapey/strawberry/cranberry/fruity slight earthy flavor w/ no tannins; very short some frizzante/tangy grapey/fruity/cranberry/strawberry off-dry slight earthy finish w/ no tannins; a bit on the vapid/light-weight/undistinguished side but not as sweet as I expected and actually better than I expected; a pretty classic Oakland wine. $10.00 (SFW&S)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. In Portugese, Mateus means the "Gift of God".
Around 1966, Mateus (and Lancers) were my gateway drug into the World of Wine. I recalled that I'd entered my first InterNet TN on this wine back in 1966 on WineCrazies.com, an early precursor to WineBerserkers.com. There you would often find TN's from RobertLawrenceBalzer/AndreSimon/RobertFinegan/Pliny the Elder, and the like. So I searched back thru my archives and, low&behold, found that original punched-card deck that had my TN. So I hooked up my punch-card reader to my iPhone thru its USB port and downloaded the TN to my iPhone. It said:
Tom/1966 wrote: Mateus Rose (17.4%; RS: 7.3%) SoGrape NV (1965?): Pale color like blood-stained urine; very fragrant grapey-fruity-Concord-like-floral-hollyhocks nose; quite fizzy floral-hollyhocks-grapey-fruity lightly-sweet flavor with little tannins; very long-lingering rich-lush soda-poppy-fizzy dry finish; a classic seduction wine.
$2.99/flagon (B)
Back in those early days of the InterNet, the punch-card machines didn't have a "/", only a "-", so the style of my TN makes it a bit difficult to read. As you can see, the quality of Mateus has not changed a whole lot over the yrs.
Tom