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Vintage
Price
Varietal
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Region
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Original Item
2011
$105.19
Red Blend
Portugal
Douro
750ml
N/A
Better Price, Better Score
2013
$86.88
Red Blend
Portugal
Douro
750ml
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More Details
Winery
Quinta Do Vallado
Vintage: 2011
The year 2011 was an interesting year for many northern and central European countries, as the weather was more than unpredictable in the spring and summer. However, in most countries, the climatic conditions thankfully settled down in the late summer and fall. The result of this slightly difficult year of weather in France was a set of surprisingly small yields, but overall, these yields were of a higher quality than those harvested in certain previous years. A fantastic set of wines was also made in Italy and Spain, and the Rioja wines - when released - are set to be very good indeed. Austria also had superb year in 2011, with almost fifty percent more grapes being grown and used for their distinctive Gruner Veltliner wines than in the year before. Possibly the European country which had the finest 2011, though, was Portugal, with wineries in the Douro region claiming this year to be one of the best in decades for the production of Port wine, and the bright, young Vinho Verdes wines.
In the New World, the Pacific Northwest saw some of the best weather of 2011, and Washington State and Oregon reportedly had a highly successful year, especially for the cultivation of high quality red wine grapes. Chile and Argentina had a relatively cool year, which certainly helped retain the character of many of their key grape varietals, and should make for some exciting drinking. South Africa had especially good weather for their white wine grape varietals, particularly Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and many South African wineries are reporting 2011 as one of their best years in recent memory.
Region: Douro
From their beautifully rich Bordeaux style wines, to their famous fortified wines, the wineries of Douro in Portugal have long been recognized as being amongst the finest of the Old World. For over two thousand years, Douro has been an important center of fine wine production, and it isn't difficult to see why the earliest attempts at viticulture led to an ever expanding wine industry in the region. The beautiful Douro river provides the vineyards with all the moisture and nutrients they need in order to grow fruit of real character and flavor, and the long, baking hot summers help ripen the grapes and intensify their juices. Today, Douro wines are popular all over the world, and wineries are producing more bottles than ever before to keep up with demand. Although the region is still most famous for the fortified wines of Porto, the still wines have centuries of tradition, and a whole set of distinctive flavors and characteristics that simply cannot be ignored.
Country: Portugal
Portugal has been an important center for wine production ever since the Phoenicians and Carthaginians discovered that the many native grape varietals that grow in the country could be cultivated for making excellent wines. After all, Portugal has something of an ideal wine producing climate and terrain; lush green valleys, dry, rocky mountainsides and extremely fertile soil helped by long, hot summers and Atlantic winds. Today, such a climate and range of terroir produces an impressive variety of wines, with the best wines said to be coming out of the Douro region, the Alentejo and the Colares region near Lisbon. Portugal has an appellation system two hundred years older than France's, and much effort is made by regulating bodies to ensure that the quality of the country's produce remains high, and the wines remain representative of the regions they are grown in.