Winemaker Notes
Aroma of great complexity and elegance, the result of its evolution in the bottle. Dominated by ripe black fruits, balsamic aromas, such as rockrose, and spicy notes, from its aging in barrel. Firm and concentrated, with a present and balanced acidity, it has ripe tannins well involved in its body and volume. It presents a long and persistent finish, where its balance and elegance stand out.
Professional Ratings
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The Somm Journal
Grown on the right bank of the Douro River on the Quinta dos Murças estate, this field blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Sousão, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca, and Tinta Roriz shows fresh aromas of red plum and salted beet. On the plush entry are notes of ripe red berries, caramel apple, chocolate, and marzipan. Creamy and bright, it’s a gorgeous expression of terroir
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a rich wine based on a field blend of traditional Douro grapes. It is massively concentrated, firm and properly mature, with rich black fruit and spice leading the flavors. It is perfectly aged and ready to drink. Now Wine Imports. Editors’ Choice.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Reserva is an old-vines field blend—Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca and others—aged for 12 months in used French oak. This (happily) is the year the winery abandoned both American and new oak. It comes in at 14% alcohol. There doesn't seem to be quite enough concentration here, but the fruit is wonderfully expressive, pure and flavorful. Good structure supports the blueberries and plums nicely. It is a bit tight, but the tannins are moderate enough so that you can easily drink this now. That is probably the biggest question mark of the Reservas this issue in terms of where it is going. Despite many virtues—impeccable balance, freshness and tasty fruit—I'm not sure it has enough concentration to truly reward long aging. I suspect the difficult 2013 harvest played a role there, but the winery says it got in all the grapes for this by the time the torrential rains started. Plus, the style here will lean to elegance in general. We'll see. It is certainly a pleasure to drink right now. Let's lean up for the moment and see where it goes. There were just 13,200 bottles produced (compared to nearly 36,000 in 2012), reflecting the difficult vintage conditions and truncated harvest in 2013.
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
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.