Winemaker Notes
The 2023 vintage is brightly fruited and floral, showing off the Piedmontese flair that great Baga is capable of. Drinkable now, this wine will age gracefully for decades.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Vinhas Velhas Tinto, the first wine in Portugal to be called old vines back in 1988, was produced with Baga grapes from two villages, São Lourenço and Óis do Bairro, from vines averaging 35 to 40 years of age on stony clay and limestone soils. Since 2020, the wine is more aromatic and with less extraction, as they lowered the temperature of the fermentation, which occurred with indigenous yeasts and a maceration time of 10 days at 22 degrees Celsius. It has a beautiful translucent and bright ruby color and an equally bright nose that is floral and perfumed, with an ethereal side. This has always been a favorite of mine, a wine that also has a good track record for developing in bottle. It's really fine-boned and elegant, with superb balance, depth and complexity but in a subtler way.
This dark-skinned, Portugese variety creates powerful red wines with great color, structure and finesse and is specially prominent in the Bairrada and Dão regions. Somm Secret—Because of its ample acidity and striking color, Baga also makes a great rosé; much of it from the Bairrada ends up in this style.