Quinta do Vale Meao Douro 2007 Red

Rebsorten: Touriga Nacional 60% Touriga Francesca 20% Tinta Roriz 15% Tinta Barroca 5%
Bewertung: WS 95/100 und Parker 94/100
 
In der Nase Tahiti-Vanille, Pflaumenkompott und vollreife Schwarzkirsche. Am Gaumen sehr elegant und verführerisch: Johannisbeeren und Sauerkirschen. Das Säurespiel verleiht dem Wein seine tolle Leichtigkeit. Die Tannine sind vielleicht noch besser integriert als in den Jahrgängen zuvor. Nur keine Missverständnisse! Die Kraft und Eindringlichkeit ist ganz typisch Douro, nur jetzt mit viel mehr spielerischen Akzenten und einer sehr guten Harmonie. Dies alles macht den 2007er zu einem absoluten Trinkvergnügen.

WS: This powerful red delivers concentrated flavors of dark plum, Asian spice, roasted meats and dark chocolate that are backed up by fine acidity. Medium-grained tannins are silky, and the finish is rich, with concentrated notes of dark chocolate, mocha and cream.

RPWA: The 2007 TINTO, the winery's flagship wine, simply made me smile. Bright, elegant and well structured, this has fine balance, but more than anything else—delicious fruit. Sweet and sexy, this still has a firm backbone and it shows better the next day. It leans a little more to Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz this year, the typical Touriga Nacional percentage (50-60%) having declined to less than 40%, according to winemaker Francisco Olazabal. Comparing this to the 2005, Olazabal called the tannins more mature, and the fruit fresher. I agree especially with the first point. This is remarkably graceful and Burgundian in style, more harmonious than the 2005, but not perhaps quite as ageworthy. My one concern is that the wine is a bit too oaky at the moment (it did get 100% new oak), more so than usual at this stage, it seems to me. It certainly needs a couple of years to settle down. Assuming the oak integrates as well as I think it will, this is a big winner and may even deserve an uptick in score. It should age beautifully and make a lot of friends for the Douro. There are a lot of pricey trophies in the Douro these days whose prices are hard to justify in this economy and in this vintage, where a lot of the lesser wines perform particularly well. But for an upper level wine that almost always delivers (the off vintage 2006 being a notable recent exception), this is an excellent value point, relatively speaking. It has maintained a very reasonable price point, cheaper than wines like Pintas, and around half the price of wines like Batuta and Vinha da Ponte.

Alkoholgrad: 14,5% vol.