Quinta do Vallado Tinto, Douro, Portugal

瓦拉多酒莊干紅葡萄酒

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：21612

The aromatic, expressive and fruit-driven 2022 Tinto is juicy, dominated by the Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca (Francesa again!), with some 10%Tinta Roriz, 5% Tinta Barroca, 5% Sous?o and 15% Vinhas Velhas, the old field blend. It's primary and young, with purity of fruit, a round mouthfeel and fine-grained tannins. Only 10% of the wine matured in used barrels. This is a red Douro for food, with only 10% of the volume matured in used 225-liter French oak barrels. It has moderate ripeness and 13.5% alcohol. They produce an impressive 610,000 bottles of this! It was bottled between June and December 2023.

The 2020 Tinto is one-third a field blend from old vines (over 80 years old), with the rest being 30% Touriga Nacional, 20% Touriga Franca, 20% Tinta Roriz and a dollop of Sousao. It is mostly unoaked, being only partly (10%) aged for 16 months in used French oak, the rest in stainless steel. It comes in at 14.1% alcohol. Another solid regular Tinto, this is pure and focused, showing fine mid-palate finesse and firmness on the finish. It's precise rather than jammy and well structured for its level. Of course, it is very young, so you'd expect a little bite on the finish. There is that, but it is very little and doesn't get in the way of enjoying it today. It might be better next year, though. It will then hold well for the rest of the decade, maybe more, but extended aging is not really the point here. This understated and elegant wine will be great as a house pour or a restaurant wine.

The 2019 Tinto is one-fourth a field blend from old vines (over 80 years old), with the rest being 30% Touriga Nacional, 20% Touriga Franca, 20% Tinta Roriz and a dollop of Sousao. It was partly (10%) aged for 16 months in well used French oak, the rest in stainless steel. It comes in at 13.9% alcohol. Reasonably concentrated and unsurprisingly pure, this is fresh and elegant but deliciously fruity. There's not a lot of power, and this is not one you want to age a long time, but it tastes great now. It won't disappoint in the short to mid-term.

The 2018 Tinto is one-fourth a field blend from old vines (over 80 years old), with the rest being 30% Touriga Nacional, 20% Touriga Franca, 20% Tinta Roriz and a dollop of Sousao. It was all aged for 13 months in a 75/25 mixture of stainless steel and used French barriques. It comes in at 14% alcohol. Another lovely value for the regular Tinto, this features purity, ripe tannins, forward fruit and some velvet for texture. Granting that both are not here together, I'd say for the moment that this is a tiny step behind the lovely 2017, but this might prove me wrong. It has some room to grow and improve over the next couple of years. It wouldn't be the one I'd want to hold for another decade after that, but it might hang on. That said, I like to be conservative in such things, so we'll start here. Meanwhile, you can plunge in right now.

The 2017 Tinto is a blend of 30% Touriga Nacional, 20% each of Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, plus mostly a field blend from old vines for the rest. It was all aged for 13 months in third and fourth use French barriques. It comes in at 14% alcohol. This is a fine bargain point in Vallado's increasingly pricey lineup. In its youth, this is gloriously flavorful, just bursting with fruit. Yet that's not all there is. It has marvelous purity and just enough structure. It is not designed for power or long-term aging, of course, but it can certainly hold several years very well, perhaps better than anticipated. Still, you won't want to lose that fresh young fruit. That's what this does best. There were 200,000 regular bottles produced, plus some in other formats.