1963 Bacalhoa (Aliança) Bairrada Garrafeira Particular

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 93 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View forceberry's profile
  • Report Issue

  1/13/2021 - forceberry wrote: 95 Points

  12,5% alcohol.
  
  Medium-deep lemon-yellow to pale golden color; remarkably youthful for a white almost 60 years old! The nose feels developed and rather tertiary yet not particularly old with wonderfully complex aromas of roasted nuts, caramel, some mushroomy tones, a little bit of honeydew melon, light nuanced of dried exotic fruits and a hint of honeycomb. Truly a captivating bouquet, not unlike a combination of aged white Burgundy and a more tropical white. The wine feels medium-bodied, beautifully evolved and rather concentrated on the palate with complex, dry flavors of chopped nuts, stony minerality, dried yellow fruits, some beeswax, a little bit of ripe citrus fruits, light savory woody tones, a hint of burnt sugar bitterness and a touch of tangy salinity. The firm, high acidity keeps the overall feel wonderfully firm, balanced and quite structured, even though the mouthfeel shows some oily viscosity and sense of weight. The finish is dry, evolved and remarkably long with very complex flavors of chopped nuts, bruised apples, some saline tones, a little bit of stony minerality, light savory woody tones, fruity hints of tart pomelo and sweeter dried fruits and a touch of mushroomy funk.
  
  An extraordinary, remarkably balanced and exceptionally complex wine that is in no way as old as I anticipated. The wine certainly feels quite mature, but more like how a white wine would be at 20 to 30 years of age; the color is remarkably pale and not showing any signs of age (actually the wine was lighter in color than the 1994 Arinto that was tasted alongside) and although both the nose and the taste are undeniably very evolved, they don't feel like the wine would've gone downhill one inch yet. Most likely the wine is at its plateau of maturity, has been there for quite some time, and will continue to be there for some time more. Although the wine feels slightly more tropical than your typical Burgundy, if somebody poured me this wine blind and said this was old Grand Cru Burgundy, I would have no reason to suspect this wasn't the case - this wine is all you could ask for an aged white Burgundy, at the fraction of the price. Simply fantastic. At 39,50€ this is a steal.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.