An ongoing tasting of wines under the $10 mark, accessible in Vancouver, that we will post about regardless of whether we loved it or it was absolutely putrid.  We will wade through bottles of bad plonk to find those hidden gems around town and hope that in doing this, you won’t have to do the same.

Jose Maria Da Fonseca 2005 Periquita

This is widely available at the BC government liquor stores for $9.99.  For the first Cheap As Clay posting, I have to say I’ve knocked this one out of the park.  An awesome value and super food-friendly, Periquita is from the south of Portugal, and is also the name of the grape varietal (aka Castelão) this wine is made from.  There’s an earthy-strawberry thing going on on the nose, actually – let’s dip those strawberries in dark chocolate – THAT’s what you get on the nose, and then it becomes this figgy, plummy, earthy wine on the palate.  I wouldn’t leave it open too long, as the nice concentration and richness tends to dissipate once the thing breathes a bit too much, so make sure you pop the cork back in the moment you pour out your glass.

Interestingly (if you’re me, at least), when I put ‘Periquita’ into Google Image Search, I learned a few more things:

Periquita is Portuguese for Parakeet.  I guess it would be, now wouldn’t it?

Periquita have, uh, “innovative” marketing…

To some people in the world, this guy’s name is “Carlitos”.

I also learned that ‘Periquita’ can be slang for a host of other things, but those are much easier found by Googling other search terms…

So, yeah, the Periquita.  Great wine.  Great value.  Perfect for those times when you have nothing better to do than fart around the internet…