Stop Paying Cabernet Prices

Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted red grape on earth, and you’re paying for that fame every time you reach for a bottle. Alicante Bouschet gives you the same thing that makes Cabernet worth drinking: the dark fruit, the grip, the spine that stands up to a steak, without the name tax. It’s one of the few grapes red all the way through, juice and skin alike, and most people have never heard of it.

Most red grapes have clear juice. The color you see in the glass comes from the skins, which is why a light press gives you rosé and a long soak gives you a brooding red. Alicante Bouschet skips that rule. It’s a teinturier, a grape red on the inside, so the juice runs crimson before the skins do a thing.

That trait made it the workhorse of a strange era. During American Prohibition, its thick skins survived the long train ride east, and its deep color let home winemakers stretch a little into a lot. It was the grape of the basement and the bathtub. A hundred years later, it has grown up.

Blackberry and dark plum up front, then something earthier underneath: dried herb, crushed stone, a little cured-meat savor in the serious bottlings. The tannins are firm without being harsh, the acidity keeps it upright, and the color is close to opaque. If you like Cabernet for its structure and its darkness rather than its pedigree, this is the same handshake from a stranger.

Reach for it where you’d reach for a Cabernet: a grilled steak, a lamb shoulder, a hard aged cheese, a cold night.

The heartland today is the Alentejo in southern Portugal, where Alicante Bouschet is treated as a flagship rather than a filler. The benchmark name is Mouchão, an estate that has built its reputation on this grape and ages it into something that rewards a decade in the cellar. Start with an Alentejo red that lists Alicante Bouschet on the back label and you will not go wrong. Spain grows it well too, and a handful of California producers around Lodi are taking it seriously.

The entry-level Alentejo bottles often run about a third of what a comparable Napa Cabernet costs, but I’d rather you chase the flavor than a price tag.

Alicante Bouschet earned its reputation as a blender for a reason: drunk young and cheap, it can turn jammy and flat, all color and no conversation. The magic is in the producers who respect it, not in every label that carries the name. Buy it from the Alentejo, give the good ones a year or two, and let the bulk stuff stay in the past where it belongs.

Is it a heavy wine? Full-bodied, yes, but it drinks with more freshness than its color suggests.

How do I say it? Ah-lee-KAHN-teh Boo-SHAY.

One bottle to start? An Alentejo red with Alicante Bouschet on the label. Work up to Mouchão when you’re ready to see the ceiling.

Start with the value hero, the Herdade do Rocim Alicante Bouschet 2023 on Wine.com, about $27:

Want the ceiling? The Herdade do Esporão 2015 runs closer to $64. Or read the full grape guide at https://wineunderdogs.com/journal.

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