Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Pintas Vintage Port is a field blend from more than 40 different grapes from very old vines (around 90 years). It comes in with 110 grams of residual sugar and will be bottled in July 2021 after 19 months in old chestnut casks. It was the final blend and out of cask when I tasted it. In classic flavors, this is sensationally delicious, but there is also a backbone, though perhaps less fierce than normal. The winery is never shy in tannins, but right now this has the fruit in charge. I expect this to close down. When it is released, try keeping your hands off it, but if you dive in, you probably should do it early. Still, this is not quite as hard edged as the 2019, which I'd rate a little higher for what seems to be its formidable structure. This may have sexier fruit.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Wine Spectator
Expressive, this bursts with plum cake, boysenberry pâte de fruit and black currant reduction aromas and flavors. Reveals intense licorice notes that tightly lace up the finish, with a late tug of warm earth. Shows terrific drive and character. Best from 2038 through 2060.
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.