Whereas I was in Vila Precise inside the Douro, doing somewhat educating on the Faculty of Trás-os-Montes e Alta Douro, I caught up with Tiago Alves de Sousa for some lunch, and he confirmed me some attention-grabbing wines. Tiago does some educating there, they often have a really good new winery facility for school college students.
He’s doing somewhat attention-grabbing points, and regarded certainly one of them is what he describes because the model new outdated vineyards of the Douro. So far vineyards had been planted at shut density as space blends of many kinds all mixed in, nevertheless from the Seventies onwards new vineyards had been generally planted at lower densities with all the varieties saved separate. This new enterprise is to return to the outdated strategies, ‘so we don’t lose the identification of the Douro.’ These new blocks are 8000 vines per hectare, pruned double Guyot, with 15 varieties in a single hectare.
The wines. To begin with, a extreme end rosé. ‘There’s a cool movement spherical rosé in Portugal, and the Douro considerably,’ says Tiago. ‘I actually like rosés, nevertheless they weren’t being taken severely.’ The vineyard for this wine was planted significantly with rosé in ideas. It’s from a principally east-facing web site at 500 m, which is the most effective spot at Quinta da Gaivosa, and it’s planted with 80% Tinto Cão and 20% Touring Nacional. Gaivosa have 15 hectares of Tinto Cão in order that they’re seemingly the most important producers of this grape on this planet. It’s very utterly completely different to completely different crimson varieties inside the valley, and makes terribly elegant wines often with gentle tannins and colour. For this rosé they use specific pressing, the place the press nearly doesn’t switch and operates at low stress, they often fraction the pressings and take them to barrel the place it ferments and ages for a 12 months.
Rosé Celeste by Quinta da Gaivosa 2021 Douro, Portugal
12.5% alcohol. Celebrating Tiago’s grandmother. That’s pale in colour and distinctively savoury and textural, with a slight woody twist to the energetic citrus fruit, with a contact of cranberry. Such precision proper right here, with good building and acidity. Precise finesse, and age worthiness, too. 93/100
Then a solera crimson.
Alves de Sousa Memórias MV Douro, Portugal
This is usually a wine made every 10 years, to close one cycle and begin a model new one. That’s merely the second model, and accommodates wines from the perfect vintages spanning 2011-2019. This combines the perfect vineyards they farm with the dimension of time. ‘There are eight utterly completely different vintages on this,’ explains Tiago. ‘Every resulted in a specific wine with specific ageing contributing to a solera which began in 2011 in a stainless-steel vat.’ He saved some stainless steel barrels from the separate vintages to enter the final word combine if needed. ‘The blending course of was tough,’ he says. ‘The components are specific, nevertheless it could end up being blurry.’ The first model, made 10 years prior to now, was merely magnums, they often aged correctly. This time they’re making 4700 bottles, with a launch value of 200 Euros. Superior nostril of sweet black cherry and blackberry fruit with hints of earth and warmth spices. The palate is concentrated with a core of sweet fruit however moreover some grainy, spicy factor and good freshness and building. There’s some evolution proper right here. Tangy and complex with precise depth. 95/100
Lastly a basic Port. ‘The Douro is at its biggest second ever,’ says Tiago. ‘The maturity of the winemakers and grape growers means the sector is at its biggest. In spite of everything there are challenges nevertheless nothing in distinction with these of the earlier.’
Ampitheatrum by Quinta da Gaivosa Traditional Port 2020 Douro, Portugal
This is usually a single-vineyard Traditional Port that’s pretty specific. It comes from a plot, Lordelo Alta Ego, the place they didn’t have many grapes as a consequence of unhealthy fruit set, after which there was a scorching summer season. The quantity was small, after which it purchased a lot much less and fewer with the dry conditions. Then there was rain on 15th August nevertheless it was dry afterwards and what little water was left inside the berries began to get pushed out. By mid August the grapes had been at 18-21% potential alcohol. It was a rush to decide on as a result of the berries raisined. They took the berries to a small lagar and this gave them what turned out to be their biggest basic Port ever: each little factor concentrated, along with the acidity. That’s super-concentrated and intense with astonishing depth of flavour, company building and good freshness, even though just a few of the fruit might be very mature and even a bit jammy. Nevertheless then there’s balancing black cherry and blackcurrant fruit with gorgeous depth and harmony, along with immense building. Some notes of smoke, ash, tar and iodine, along with some saltiness. Excellent. 97/100