RJonWine.com

• By Richard Jennings
  12/30/2010 (link) 92 points

  (Quinta da Carolina Vinho Regional Trás-os-Montes) Very dark red violet color; baked berry, blackberry, smoke nose; tasty, raspberry syrup, baked berry, blueberry, smoke palate; medium-plus finish

• By Richard Jennings
  11/20/2008 (link) 92 points

  (Quinta da Carolina Vinho Regional Trás-os-Montes) Blackish red violet color; roasted berry, dried plum, smoke and charcoal nose; a labyrinth of a palate, tart plum and tart black fruit with depth, minerality; medium-plus finish 92+ pts.

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  8/5/2008 (link)

  (Luper Legacy (Carolina)) Legacy Dear Friends, Think 2000 vintage Port is good? Try this. I've been trying to acquire this vintage for the last two years but the price has been too high. The quality has always been there and now that I have the price down, this is one of the best deals on a bottle of world-class wine I've seen. Educational and exemplary, it is worth the effort to acquire. A $40-50 dry red from Portugal better deliver the goods but the same wine at much less? Now I'm listening. As one of the most expensive dry red wines in Portugal the Luper Legacy means business. Rarely distributed and only sold in small amounts, this is largely due to the tiny size of the vineyard, between 1.5-2.7 hectares (depending if you count the terraced rocks between the plantable areas). The vision of Luper himself, this vineyard lies in a backwater area of Portugal rarely traveled by tourists or by those seeking the fortified wines of the country. The Tras-Os-Montes, lie beyond the beyond, in the northeast of the country, near the Duoro but a world away in mentality. It is rugged, mountainous, mysterious and intriguing - like a magnet that repels with the opposite end. It is one of the most isolated and unknown areas of the continent with a mentality that they are immune from the legislation that emanates from Lisbon. In the Tras-Os-Montes, survival is the main concern not abiding by manmade laws and rules. The old-timers stay, the youth try to find a way out...at least they did in the past but a new pot of gold has been uncovered in this region and it is deep purple and viscous in a glass. Despite its location, this area has some of the most promising terroir and old-vines left in Europe, yet they are largely undiscovered. As far as potential quality, think of a regal old-world Barossa Valley before the Grateful Palate explosion and you will be close. One of the burdens the Portuguese have to cope with if they are going to make headway into the fine dry wine market is an industry (and public) that preconceives their country as capable of only one thing - Port. In truth, Port only represents a small amount of what is produced in Portugal and most of it is exported, as it has been for 100 years or more. How many Portuguese actually drink Port on a regular basis? I think you will find that most consume the dry wines far more often and (surprise) a great deal of that consumption is white wine. Portugal has far more to offer than hot-climate, roasted wine. The very best producers in this small country love their terroir and they want to express the specifics just as any vintner would in France, Germany or other. Many of these prized plots are among Europe's oldest and exciting untouched stock. Why? They simply have not been exploited like many of the more known regions of the world and the old vines remain original and intact - waiting for the right hands to transform their bounty into something that will speak to the world. J. Luper found one of those special parcels, north facing and away from the hot sun, in a gorgeous Tras-Os-Montes valley bowl that would be considered a major discovery for anyone in the wine trade. The only catch (and there's always a catch) was that it was almost too remote - he was going to have to abandon everything else to dedicate himself to the dream at hand. Either do it or don't - an often difficult mantra to grapple with but one that many of us could learn to live by. He indeed "did it" and the rest is, as they say in Portuguese, "Passado". The 2000 Luper Legacy will knock many of your socks off for the tarrif. For those of you that remember the 2000 Monte d'Oiro Reserva Syrah/Viognier we offered 3-4 years ago, you should pay special attention here. This is another Portuguese wine of the same quality from the same vintage and many of you still claim the 2000 Oiro was the finest deal we've ever offered, even 3-4 years later. Where the Oiro was like Portuguese Cote Rotie, this wine is akin to Portuguese Leoville Las Cases. If you could combine perfumed, smoky red fruit from 80-120 year old indigenous stock of unknown origin (they have no idea what the exact blend is in the vineyard), toss in one of the finest vintages in the last twenty, give it plenty of restrained ripeness, complexity and regal style and sell it for this price instead on $40 or more, you would have my attention.... and they do. Call it what you want, Iberian Bordeaux from a ripe year (like 1990) or simply high-class, exotic wine from a new region that is begging for discovery - whatever it is, the wine is worth the educational exercise and I think it could be a new house wine for a large number of you. A crazy deal. Serve this blind and watch the fun begin (decant 1-2 hours prior). This parcel has perfect provenance directly from the source - it has been resting since release under ideal conditions. Please note: This wine is also called the "Vinhos Duoro", although that is not technically correct - it is from Tras-Os-Montes. For comparison, you can check pricing on the 1999 version of this wine (if you can't find the 2000 out there): 2000 Luper Legacy Vinhos Tras-Os-Montes (Quinta da Carolina) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Port9900