Quinta do Vale Meao Vintage Porto 2013
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Robert
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Wine Spectator
Offers an explosively floral aroma, with elegant and minerally flavors of raspberry, red plum and cherry tart that deliver plenty of grip. The pure finish presents white pepper and dark chocolate details. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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Wine Enthusiast
The 2013 Vintage Port is a blend of 60% Touriga Franca, 20% Touriga Nacional, 5% Tinta Barroca, 5% Tinta Roriz, 5% Sousão and 5% miscellaneous grapes; it comes in at 93 grams per liter of residual sugar. Fresh, lifted and dry on first impression, this is a Port that justified the price of admission with finesse and character, rather than fruity nuances and sugar. Penetrating and focused, it finished with considerable grip and it lingered nicely. As hard-edged as it initially seemed, it never turned austere. Add a few days in the fridge and it blossomed nicely, the sugar and fruit coming to the fore and making it surprisingly delicious, considering its closed demeanor early on. The finish is lingering, with increasing intensity of flavor. The backbone was still there by the end of the week, but much more in the background. It was good to drink, right then and there. Certain to develop more complexity as it ages, this will still be approachable young if you must pop it, although its peak may take a lot longer. There were just 400 cases produced.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Vintage Port is a blend of 60% Touriga Franca, 20% Touriga Nacional, 5% Tinta Barroca, 5% Tinta Roriz, 5% Sousão and 5% miscellaneous grapes; it comes in at 93 grams per liter of residual sugar. Fresh, lifted and dry on first impression, this is a Port that justified the price of admission with finesse and character, rather than fruity nuances and sugar. Penetrating and focused, it finished with considerable grip and it lingered nicely. As hard-edged as it initially seemed, it never turned austere. Add a few days in the fridge and it blossomed nicely, the sugar and fruit coming to the fore and making it surprisingly delicious, considering its closed demeanor early on. The finish is lingering, with increasing intensity of flavor. The backbone was still there by the end of the week, but much more in the background. It was good to drink, right then and there. Certain to develop more complexity as it ages, this will still be approachable young if you must pop it, although its peak may take a lot longer.
Other Vintages
2015-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
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Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
Quinta do Vale Meão was founded in 1877 by the legendary Dona Antònia Adelaide Ferreira and is owned today by her great-great-grandson Francisco “Xito” Olazabal. Vale Meão built its reputation supplying fruit to the famed 250-year-old Port house Ferreira. In 1952, its vineyards were chosen to create a revolutionary wine, which for decades would be the Douro’s only globally recognized table wine.
Vale Meão began a new life in 1998 when Xito realized his dream of making his own wine from his family’s estate. Success came quickly, and in 2011, Portugal’s leading wine publication Revista de Vinhos named Xito Winemaker of the Year. Today Xito is recognized as a leading figure in the Douro table wine revolution, which has captured the attention of the wine world.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.