Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 72

YEAR'S BEST PORTUGUese WINes
94 | Quinta do Monte Xisto $80

2015 Douro ^ João Nicolau de Almeida was,
until his retirement in 2015, the oenologist
and CEO of Ramos Pinto; his sons, Mateus
and João, are also talented winemakers and
viticulturists. They work together on this
family project, a vineyard in the eastern
reaches of the Douro Superior, on a high
ridge that drops off steeply to the river below.
The vines date to 2005, and the family has
farmed the site under biodynamic principles from the beginning, allowing the local
plants and wildflowers to grow among the
vines. They built a winery into the schist at
their home near the vineyard, where they
foot-trod this selection of touriga nacional,
touriga francesa and souzão in stone lagars
and then aged the wine in 600-liter barrels.
An exceptional vintage, this 2015 has the
stone-dust scent of the place, and tastes of
fresh herbs, blueberries and bee pollen. It's
subtle, dark and sleek, a meaty Douro red
that will age for a decade or more. MundoVino/The Winebow Group, NY
219069

93 | Quinta de la Rosa

$54

2014 Douro Reserva La Rosa ^ Jorge Moreira
blends this from touriga nacional and older,
mixed plantings on the terraces at this estate
in Pinhão. It's foot-trodden in lagars, then
fermented in stainless steel before aging
in French oak casks. The range of varieties among the old vines contrasts with the
sleek generosity of touriga nacional while the
winemaking creates a parallel play on traditional and modern themes, coming together
in a wine with layers of flavor, showing its
oak and a brash, almost unctuous minerality before singing out in beautiful ripe fruit.
Both powerful and refined, this is an ambitious wine that hits. (W&S 4/17) § Winesellers,
Niles, IL
221427

93 | Quinta do Noval

$87

2014 Douro ^ A clean, fresh and relatively
gentle approach to the power that Douro's
heat and schist soils can give, this wine's
black tannins feel stony and smoky before
they relent, allowing scents of violets, then a
full, rich robe of black cherry fruit to emerge.
The structure remains tight, but the wine is
accommodating, with enough elasticity to
let you enter its depths. Rather than a schist
wall, there's a narrow door to a cool, earthy
cellar filled with ripe fruit. § Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
226407

93 | Ramos Pinto

$40

2015 Douro Duas Quintas Reserva ^ The concept of this wine descended from Fernando
Nicolau de Almeida, who created Ferreira's
72

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

Barca Velha, the first modern Douro red, by
blending fruit from the vineyard along the
banks of the upper Douro (now Vale Meão)
with grapes from cooler high-altitude sites.
His son, João, became managing director
of Ramos Pinto, where Champagne Roederer helped to finance Nicolau de Almeida's
experimentation with a blend from two
estate-owned vineyards in the Douro Superior: Ervamoira, on the banks of the Coa
River, and Bons Ares, a cool, high-altitude
site. This is the last vintage of Duas Quintas
made under his watch before he retired, and
one of the best. It sparks with mineral intensity, fat and rich enough in the middle to support all that schist-driven tannic power. Up
above, a violet scent introduces the wine and
lingers in the midst of a complex finish. The
flavors modulate between black and purple,
the youthfulness of the fruit primed to evolve
for a decade or more. § Maisons Marques &
Domaines USA, Oakland, CA
223249

93 | Sogrape Vinhos

$220

2011 Douro Legado ^ This is a blend of fruit
from a 110-year-old mixed planting at the
Quinta Caeda, where Fernando Guedes, the
second generation of Sogrape's founding
family, decided he wanted to produce his
legacy wine. Working with Luis Sotomayor,
Sogrape's director of winemaking, Guedes
began offering this limited-production wine
in 2008. The 2011, the first vintage to make it
to the US, is a wine that speaks powerfully of
its Douro provenance in a message of schist,
anise and blueberries, all punctuated by
herbs; the scents of dried tobacco and fresh
rosemary add space between the compressed
layers of fruit and tannins, as if to clarify their
flavors. This has the stature of a great Douro
red, a wine that will age for decades. § Evaton,
Stamford, CT
226864

93 | Wine & Soul

$30

2015 Douro Pintas Character (Best Buy) ^
Jorge Serodio Borges and Sandra Tavares da
Silva make two old-vine field blends from
their vineyards in the Pinhão Valley's Vale
Mendiz, the epicenter of the Douro region.
Pintas Character comes from a 1970 planting, a field blend of 30 varieties, the parcel
adjacent to the 1930 planting of more than
35 varieties that produces Pintas. Both wines
ferment in stone lagares; Pintas ages for 22
months in oak, 70 percent new, while Character ages 18 months in oak, 50 percent new.
In 2015, Character jumps out of the starting
gate with the most beautiful scent of the
Douro, this wine charged with a wild-strawberry perfume, scents of savory herbs and
a brisk delicacy that makes all of its power

feel nonchalant. Complex and accessible as
a young wine, this will age with grace. § MundoVino/The Winebow Group, NY
218167

92 | Conceito

$30

2015 Douro Bastardo ^ Rita Ferreira Marques
grows a block of old-vine bastardo at her
family's Quinta da Chao do Pereiro in the
Teja Valley, a relatively cool, high-elevation
spot in the otherwise scorching hot Douro
Superior. Bastardo, as the name would suggest, is a difficult vine to grow in the Douro,
though in the 19th century Joseph Forrester
considered it one of the great varieties of
the region for its elegance and freshness. As
light in color as a rosé, this young bastardo
has the frisky freshness you might associate
with a trousseau from the Jura (the varieties are the same), but in Douro, tannins add
a serious cast to the tart cherry, strawberry
and rhubarb notes. The wine is both firm and
fragrant, the flavors lasting clean and long,
leading you back for another sip. Open a bottle for a completely different perspective on
what a definitive Douro red could be. (W&S
4/17) § Silver Coast Imports, Feasterville, PA
221492

92 | Lavradores de Feitoria $35

2011 Douro Tr's Bagos Grande Escolha ^ A
stony wine with detail in the schist abrasion
of the tannins, this wine's rich fruit is black
and purple on the surface, with a belly of red
fruit to center it. The texture feels cool and
generous, sleek and full without any excess
weight. It's a firm, spicy red to pour with
braised pork shoulder. § Polaner Selections,
Mount Kisco, NY
218040

92 | Quinta Nova de Nossa
Senhora do Carmo
$25

2014 Douro Collection ^ The Amorim family, best known for their cork business, purchased this historic quinta near Pinhão in
1999; it's now run by Luisa Amorim. This is
a zesty red with vibrant acidity that picks up
on the Douro schist, so it's all mineral, all
the time. There's a cool feel to the fruit, rich
and a little pungent, balancing the intensity
of the mineral tannins. Decant it for a grilled
steak. (W&S 4/17) § V.O.S. Selections, NY
221440

92 | Quinta do Noval

$87

2012 Douro ^ The ripeness of this wine has a
calming effect, the stony schist edges of the
structure mellowed by time in oak, offering
a soft cushion of caramel and toast for all the
rich fruit. This feels generous and sleek, its
concentration finely managed. With bottle
age, the wine should show less of its oak and
more of its provenance-a legendary Vale
Mendiz estate with investments in modern

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018