2017 Wine & Soul Pintas Red
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A field blend of more than 40 varieties from an 87-year-old vineyard in the Vale de Mendiz in the Pinhão Valley. Foot trodden and fermented over 10 days in stone lagares and the malolactic conversion and 20 months in French oak. Just 6,000 bottles produced. TA 5.8, pH 3.64. Dark cherry red with purple rim and opaque core. Darker and less open than the Pintas Character 2017 but still deeply aromatic. Here the fruit is less come-hither and the rocky Douro character dominates. A mineral intensity of the region. There's a little more of a floral quality here compared with its sibling Pintas Character. On the palate, full and concentrated, deep, rich but also somehow savoury because of that Douro imprint. Fabulous fruit purity, the oak showing a little more in its restraint of the fruit and some dark chocolate flavours. Opens to rock dust scent and also a more floral quality. The freshness is as much in the rocky/mineral aroma and flavour than in the acidity, though there is no lack of that. Powerful and long but, like the Pintas Character, all in harmony. Should make old bones. Elegant and long even in infancy. (JH)
Punteggi della critica
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Mark Squires
Altre recensioni e punteggi
The 2017 Pintas is a field blend from old vines (not quite 90 years) aged for 20 months in 30% new French oak. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. This seemed surprisingly accessible and elegant for this vintage when I first saw it as a tank sample in Porto last June. It was, however, a bit reticent. I expected more. It is now showing exactly that. I'm still not convinced it is quite as great as the winery thinks, but it is awfully fine. It has an extra layer of depth over the 2016, a little more power and even more concentration of fruit—in that subtle and elegant style the winery has; it's never jammy. It is still remarkably unevolved and in need of some time to show the finesse and harmony it will one day have, but it is surprisingly approachable. When this rounds into something more like peak form in the late 2020s, I suspect many unfamiliar to Portugal will pick up a glass and think it is something far more famous. Some six hours later (re-corked, not decanted), it was arguably better. At the moment, this still is not quite all the way there. If it is all about potential, it has a lot of it.