Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Friday, July 16, 2021 - A blend of +20 different varieties (mainly Tinta Amarela, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão and Touriga Nacional) from a 80-yo plot within Quinta da Gaivosa vineyard. This is a special Garrafeira version of Quinta da Gaivosa wine, released only from exceptional vintages and only with minimum 7 years of aging. Minuscule production. 14,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Dense, fully opaque and still very youthful plummy red color. Ripe, concentrated and moderately sweetish nose with brooding aromas of dark plums and boysenberries, some coffee oak and vanilla, a little bit of Bourbon caramel, light blueberry tones, a floral hint of violets and a spicy touch of woody oak. The wine is dense, ripe and juicy on the palate with a very full body and concentrated flavors of plums and sweet bilberries, some mocha oak, light savory notes of meat, a little bit of boysenberry jam, oaky hints of milk chocolate and vanilla and a developed touch of wizened figs. The overall feel is quite extracted and even somewhat chewy, with an impressive structure to keep the balance in check: the wine is quite moderately high in acidity with ample and still moderately grippy tannins. The ripe finish is bold and very concentrated with some tannic grip and lengthy, extracted flavors of sweet dark fruits and boysenberries, some raisiny tones, a little bit of savory wood spice, light toasty notes of caramel and mocha, a sweet hint of dried dates and a perfumed touch of violets.

A big and powerful blockbuster with lots of concentrated, sunny fruit, extraction and oak. The overall feel is impressively balanced for such a huge wine - thanks to its enjoyably tightly-knit structure - but the wine isn't really up my alley, due to its quite pronounced oak influence. Fortunately the wine is still relatively youthful for its age, and despite its slightly evolved nuances I can see it improving easily for another decade or so. I really hope the oakier nuances integrate better with the fruit - at least there is still good cellaring potential left here. Maybe a bit pricey for the quality at 55€.

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