QUINTA DO VALLADO
2017 RESERVA FIELD BLEND
DOURO | PORTUGAL
Portugal has long been known as the epicenter for the world’s best Port Wines. Over the past decade, the still (non-fortified) wines of Portugal have gained tremendous strides and become extremely popular. A terrific example is the 95-Point Douro Reserva from Quinta Do Vallado.
Quinta do Vallado is one of the oldest estates in the Douro Valley of Portugal and was built in 1716 by Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. More than three centuries later, Dona’s great-great-great grandsons still run the Estate.
The 2017 Reserva fuses more than 30 grape varieties from 100-year-old vines. The wine has striking old-world complexity, is highly-textured, and persistent. It already has earned 95 points from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate.
Vallado’s winemaker, Francisco “Xito” Olazabal, is one of Portugal’s most respected winemakers, and he’s also the winemaker at Quinta do Vale Meao, which like Quinta do Vallado, earns high 90-Point scores and has graced the Wine Spectator Top 100 on multiple occasions.
At the winery, Quinta do Vallado combines state-of-the-art technology with traditional methods. Some of the grapes are still foot-trodden in traditional granite “Lagares,” while the rest are fermented in 5-ton stainless steel vats. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and spends 18 months developing in French oak barrels, and the final result is stunning to taste.
The 2017 Reserva Field Blend may be their best yet. In The Wine Advocate, Mark Squire rates the wine 95 points and writes, “Sensually textured, it has plenty of power on the finish to go with its beautiful mid-palate finesse.”
A fusion of more than 30 grape varietals, Vallado’s 2017 Reserva asserts a crescendo of tightly wound, brilliantly focused fruit, and unfolds in beautifully refined layers.
QUINTA DO VALLDAO
2017 RESERVA FIELD BLEND
DOURO | PORTUGAL
Retails at: $70
Members’ price: $49
From RobertParker.com, “It is a field blend (some 32 grapes from centenarian vines), principally Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca and Tinta Barroca, all aged for 16 months in 20% new French barriques. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. Of all of Vallado’s fine reds this issue, this might be the most refined. Sensually textured, it has plenty of power on the finish to go with its beautiful mid-palate finesse. It seems very sophisticated. Focused and precise, this looks like a great Reserva from Vallado. Plus, considering the wave of pricey upper-level wines lately, it’s also a relative value point in the lineup. How well will it age? Let’s start here—but be prepared to cellar it for a few years, at the least, to allow it to become more expressive.”
95 Points −Mark Squire
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