Winemaker Notes
Full-bodied and deep, Pintas shows spicy and floral aromas and flavors of blackberry and dark chocolate. Ripe, round, and balanced with notable acidity, it has fine tannins and a long, persistent finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pintas Vintage Port is a field blend from old vines coming in with 100 grams of sugar and 21% alcohol. Bottled just two days before being tasted, this will still be scored with a range, considering how powerful it is. Range: 97-99
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Wine Enthusiast
The wine's power comes from the superb black fruits. Balanced with acidity, they offer a fine counterpoint to the dark tannins that are lit by the bite of the spirit. The wine's intensity will soften but probably not before 2028.
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Wine Spectator
A lush and luxurious beam of steeped raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry fruit is laced with licorice, fruitcake and cobbler notes, all staying supple and fine-grained. Shows ample depth and grip, but this remains remarkably polished and refined. Best from 2035 through 2055.
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. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
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.