Excellent tip which I somehow overlooked! Another Dão producer in much the same vein - perhaps geekier - is João Tavares de Pina, from Quinta da Boavista (no relation to the eponymous Douro estate).
My wife and I just returned from a week in Portugal (Lisbon and Porto), and on the advice of this board swung by the largest of Garrafeira National’s three Lisbon locations on our last day to pick up a mixed case. Based on guidance in this thread we worked with Marco to select the attached bottles, with prices in Euros noted in green. We’ll let these settle for a few weeks before we gradually dip into them, likely starting with the older bottles. That’s with the exception of the Ports of course, which are for our children. The 2016 was actually a mistake as we meant to purchase the same bottling as the 2018, but they accidentally boxed up the higher-end Capela and we failed to notice it on the receipt until we got home. Oh well.
Anyway, thanks to all who contributed to this thread as it was an immense help!
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All very nice wines, but I’d age the Mouchao and the Taboadella. I tasted both a few weeks ago. The Mouchao, if it’s the 2015 is the best since 2011 IMO and needs 10 years at least. The Taboadella, if it’s the Grande Villae, also needs some time.
No mention of Barca Velha in a thread on best Portuguese reds???
I suspect very few have tried it. Very much out of my price range,
It’s an incredible wine but more expensive than many blue chip wines from classic regions.
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I read Barca Velha lost a key vineyard when Quinta do Vale Meao decided to produce their own wine and stopped selling their grapes.
That should surely have affected Barca Velha’s wine quality? What do you think, @Tomas_Costa ?
There is no negative correlation between Barca Velha’s quality and Francisco Olazabal’s decision to leave Sogrape and start his own project at/with the Quinta do Vale Meão - if anything it’s the contrary. Meão is a fairly homogeneous estate and the Barca Velhas produced there always needed a substantial amount of purchased grape from the higher altitudes of the Meda, whereas Quinta da Leda has a great variety of vineyard exposures, particularly since the expansion toward the river through the purchase of Quinta da Granja. The first few vintages of the millennium also coincide with huge improvements in viticulture as António Braga joined the team at Sogrape. Each Barca Velha since the early 90s has been getting better and better, first as Soares Franco modernized the winemaking, then as the transition to the new facilities at Leda modernized the infrastructure and viticulture. It wouldn’t be terribly controversial to claim that 2011 Barca Velha is the greatest non-fortified Portuguese wine of all time.
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I was shown the cellar in which the first Barca Velha was made by Vito Olazabal at Vale Meao when visiting.
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Excellent recommendation. I was able to find the basic 2020 Quinta da Biaia Tinto at a discount at Continente, for under 6 EUR. It did not disappoint. Thanks for the introduction to a region I had never heard of before!
On a recent visit to Lisbon I picked up a bottle of the following to share with friends:
2020 Maçanita Letra F Os Canivéis
Lovely richness and weight behind this without being heavy. There was a sense of freshness to it which took you back for more. It was either 22 or 25 euro.
You will rarely go wrong with wines from the adventurous, prolific António Maçanita. His Fitapreta project in Alentejo is a favorite for this region. I particularly like the Palpite and recently had an opportunity to taste the recent vintage of the more limited Castelão and Tinta Carvalha. The Tinta Carvalha is sourced from an old Alentejo vineyard at an altitude of 260 m. Unusually low alcohol snd freshness for the region, showing great purity and freshness. Available from the winery and limited availability elsewhere.
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The best portugese wine i had was from Aletejano an d was Herdade de Perdigao. Rich and silky. Can’t find it here in the states at all.
I see Casa Ferreirinha just launched its Reserva Especial 2014.
I know their Barca Velha is “The” iconic Portuguese wine, but how about this Reserva Especial? Is it worth seeking out?
The answer is yes; they’re the same wine. Theoretically speaking, Barca Velha is an exceptional vintage of Reserva Especial which is released at three times the price. Practically speaking, there are also economic incentives behind which vintages get to be BV and which ones don’t (Ferreirinha is betting on an average of three or four every decade), besides the mere fact that vintage profile is subjective. I think the good producers made excellent wines in the Douro in 2014 (not as heralded as 2011 and 2015) and I prefer them to the burly 2017s, at least for the time being. My dad tasted the 2014 Reserva Especial and was very enthusiastic; I haven’t had the opportunity yet.
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