October 28, 2023 - A fruit profile consisting of cherry confit and fresher raspberry elements. Highly appealing nuances of coffee and black chocolate. Dense and concentrated palate with seamlessly integrated tannin. Still juicy and fruit-forward. Already a treat to drink but suspect it will take 5+ years until peak.
January 30, 2022 - Red fruit and cedar in the nose
Fruity palate with sweetness and smooth tannins
Long oak finish
Great wine!
December 16, 2020 - Mid weight, easy to drink red table wine, not particularly exciting on opening, but improved quite a bit with air. The best aspect is the floral nose, which centers on lilac and spice cake.
August 15, 2016 - Beautiful wine, inky purple in color, with plum and passive mineralogy on the palate. Perfect time to drink.
June 19, 2016 - Ripe black fruits, oaky sweetness, jammy compote, Palate is dry, high acid and high chewy tannins, notes of sweet spice, vanilla, clove, ripe jammy fruits.
Overall good, very dense and powerful. The youthful tannins are appreciated as without their grip and weight the wine would be far too glossy/sweet/juice like. Oak should integrate with time but not sure what will happen with the generally sweet character. Seems to unnecessary and a waste to make a wine in such an overly oak and sweet way, hopefully things are changing in the Douro top estates.
May 1, 2016 - Dinner with Quinta do Crasto reds: Dark garnet. Compared to the Touriga Nacional this had much more sweet dark fruit and less herbs, notes of chocolate. Style-wise like a New World Shiraz. I liked the fact that the oak was much better integrated. Good length. Good quality but if you like the style, there is plenty of good Aussie Shiraz out there.
July 10, 2014 - Despite the still strong tannins this wine is polished and a real Portuguese representation of Tempranillo. Deceptively dense and dark purple in colour. Fairly tight nose, it is still young after all. Creamy, rich kirsch and cocoa hit at the front of the palate. The real strong point of this wine is the texture; dense and chewy like biting into a blackforest cake or the crunch of an apple. Finishes with soft baking spice and polished graphite laced field berries. The clean medium finish that coats your mouth and sits there. After it fades I would realize 30 seconds later that it was still lacing my throat. Second coming. Drinking now with a decent decant but don't be scared to age and revisit in 4+ years.
February 27, 2014 - super dense colour
looks like a real beasty
great fragrance
spicy floral nose
good stuff