2011 Alves de Sousa Douro Quinta da Gaivosa Vinha de Lordelo

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 96 points

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  3/7/2024 - davidsa Does not like this wine:

  Great complexity on the nose, the palate starts fresh but in the end burns your throat almost like a Whisky. Unbalanced because of the alchohol. Not my thing.

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  10/23/2023 - Banzai wrote: 98 Points

  Muss getrunken werden

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  12/4/2021 - forceberry wrote: 93 Points

  A single-vineyard Douro from the Lordelo vineyard, being the oldest in the Gaivosa estate at over 100 years of age. The wine is a field blend of over 30 local varieties, consisting of Touriga Nacional, Malvasia Preta, Tinta Amarela and numerous other varieties, harvested of September 23rd, 2011. All fruit destemmed, fermented and macerated over a period of 2 weeks. Aged for 15 months in new French oak barriques. 15% alcohol, 1,6 g/l residual sugar, 5,12 g/l acidity, 0,75 g/l VA and pH 3,68.
  
  Dense, fully opaque and still relatively youthful blackish-red color with a subtly purple hue and vibrant raspberry-red rim. The nose feels very expressive and quite perfumed with a floral streak of violets and exotic flowers, some sweetly-fruited notes of boysenberries and dark plums, a slightly liqueurish streak of alcohol, light fragrant aromas of anise and licorice, a little bit of gamey meat, lifted hints of VA and thinner, a subtly green touch of birch leaves and a whiff of dried fruits like prunes and raisins. The wine is dense, concentrated and very full-bodied on the palate with intense and surprisingly focused flavors of fresh crowberries and cranberries, ripe plummy tones, some sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of licorice, light green notes of mint and birch leaves, a hint of savory wood spice and a touch of dried dates. Although the wine is very ripe and even somewhat hot with its high alcohol, it still comes across as remarkably balanced and structured, thanks to its high acidity and firm, ripe medium tannins. The remarkably persistent finish is dry, concentrated and somewhat grippy with intense, quite acid-driven flavors of crunchy chokeberries and crowberries, some licorice tones, a little bit of fresh dark plum, light green notes of birch leaves, a hint of savory oak spice and a touch of sweeter, toasty character.
  
  I was a bit reserved when seeing the wine was a Douro red aged in new oak and clocking in at 15%, but the wine turned out to be surprisingly fresh, poised and nuanced for such a big wine, not a clumsy blockbuster. Although showing some slightly evolved nuances, the wine came across as still very youthful and brimming with promise - I'd say the wine is only starting to show some of its full potential and will continue to improve for many, many more years. Most likely the wine needs another decade before reaching its peak and will stay there for a lot longer. Outstanding stuff.

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