Apologies for the holiday carol earworm, but I’m here in the new year to celebrate Dão, a Portuguese treat for flattened post-holiday wallets.
Please pardon the bad pun, but it’s the quickest way I could think of to clarify that Dão, a long-established wine region in Northern Portugal near the fabled Port country, is pronounced a bit like “dong,” if “dong” had a French-style nasal “n” at the end.
But that’s not important right now. What is important is that the red wines of Dão in general, and this week’s featured wine in particular, click off a lot of positive boxes for me: Dão reds tend to be affordable and deliver reliably good value. It’s possible to spend up to three figures for a rare high-end bottle. But it’s a lot easier to find excellent, enjoyable wines made from quality Portuguese red grapes like Tinto Roriz and Touriga Nacional for $20 or less.
“The wines from the Dão region have been called the Burgundies of Portugal,” writes Kirk Walker, Spanish and Portuguese wine buyer for San Francisco’s K&L Wine Merchants. “While I do not know if that fits, the wines do feel brighter, more aromatic, and more restrained.”
Dão hasn’t always been a name to excite wine enthusiasts. Through much of the last century, it was primarily a source of simple, often enjoyable, but forgettable cheap wines. Its largest producer, Sogrape, may be best remembered for Mateus The Original Rose with its low price tag, sweet pink fizz, and medieval-look round bottle.
Many of the region’s producers, though, are gaining attention for wines of good quality and value, and Adega de Penalva 2022 Dão Vinho Tinto Indigena offers an excellent example at a very attractive low-teens price.
Today’s edition features a delicious, affordable Portuguese red from Dão. What wine regions do you turn to when you’re looking for good quality-price ratio?
Today’s Tasting Report
Adega de Penalva 2022 Dão Vinho Tinto Indigena ($11.99)
A typical Dão blend of 40% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), and 30% Jaen (Mencía), Adega de Penalva 2022 Dão Vinho Tinto Indigena is aged in a combination of stainless steel and concrete tanks in order to preserve its natural fruit flavors. That pays off in this dark ruby-color wine, with luscious blackberry and black cherry aromas showing up in the first pour, followed by an intriguing sweet-leather scent that evokes old leather-bound books. A bowl of mixed fruit nestles in a properly acidic and gently tannic flavor that lasts and lasts. 12.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Skurnik Wines, NYC. (Jan. 1, 2026)
FOOD MATCH: Beef and lamb are its natural companions; for plant-based options, look for hearty meatless entrees featuring eggplant, squash, or beans with tomatoes and other umami-loaded flavors.
WHEN TO DRINK: This basic Dão is designed for immediate enjoyment, and I recommend that. Its full flavors and good balance suggest that it could keep for a few years in a quality cellar, but why wait? Drink up and enjoy.
VALUE:
Wine-Searcher.com’s $12 average U.S. retail matches my local price. This wine is a great value in the lower to middle teens.
WEB LINK:
Here’s a fact sheet from importer Skurnik Wines. For more from Skurnik about producer Adega de Penalva, click here.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Adega de Penalva Dão Indigena on Wine-Searcher.com.
Read about Portugal’s Dão wine region at this Wine-Searcher link.
Find the wines you want
Explore Wine-Searcher
Wine-Searcher.com is the place to go online if you want to find where to buy a particular wine that interests you. What’s more, Wine-Searcher.com offers so much more. It’s well worth a visit just to discover its many features, including its popular list of the world’s Top 10 Best Value Wines.
Good wines we’ve tried under $12!
Want tips to still more good, inexpensive wines? Here are Wine-Searcher links to vendors and prices for a bunch more wines for $12 or less that I’ve told you about in recent years. In some cases, the prices may have risen since I reviewed them, but they should still be excellent bargains. Please tell us about your favorites!
Sponsor the Wine Advisor.
Support The 30 Second Wine Advisor and help us pay the rent while reaching 25,000 dedicated readers with your sponsorship message in this space, at the top of this E-letter, and on our social media. If you’re an established business in wine, food, and similar ventures, there’s no better way to focus your message toward an audience that comes here for just those topics. See our Sponsorship Page, or email Robin Garr for more information.
Wine Forum and Social Media
You’re always welcome to drop by our WineLovers Discussion Group, the Internet’s first and most civil online community. Discussions are open for public viewing, but you must register to post. To request registration, please contact me at wine@wineloverspage.com, tell me your name, mention the Wine Advisor, and briefly say why you’d like to participate in the forum. Sorry about the minor red tape, but this is our simple, low-tech way to deter spammers and bots.
I’d also be delighted to have you visit and “like” our WineLovers Facebook Page.
Dining and Cooking