Quinta Do Vale Meao Douro 2023 750ml

It was very interesting to see the 2023 Quinta do Vale Meão in the context of a mini vertical from 2016 to 2023. From 2017, they used more grapes from a specific vineyard with more full clusters and increasingly less new oak, and they started introducing some 500-liter barrels from 2023. The vintage is quite important here; the wine reflects quite well the conditions of the year. It's usually from the oldest vineyards on the property, and composed of some 90% Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, with the remaining 10% mostly Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz, Tinto Cão, etc. It is vinified by variety with around 15% full clusters and matured in barrels, mostly 225-liter, 35% of them new. The wine shows no oak, it's perfumed and floral with a blend of berries, flowers and spices. It's balanced, harmonious and elegant, with 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.71. It's a year with a lot of fruit, and it has a very long aftertaste. It's a more elegant vintage and is nicely textured. All the wines from 2016 showed very well and are still young and lively. The vintage that felt ready now was the 2018, some seven years after the harvest. 24,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2025. Only 2019 had more Touriga Francesa than Touriga Nacional; all the rest had more Touriga Nacional and are more floral. While 2019 was a little more austere and less aromatic, 2016 was fresh. 2017 was a little warmer and riper and was more tannic. 2018 was finer-boned—a little lighter. 2020 was a little warmer and a little more marked by the oak toast. 2021 had very fine tannins, and 2022 showed the warm and dry conditions of the year. In 2010 or so, they changed to Taransaud barrels, and today, it's 90% Taransaud in the winery. In the past, the wines aged in Seguin Moreau barrels, which lent them more vanilla aromas and flavors. The Taransaud barrels seem to be more neutral.

This is compact, yet beneath its tight structure lies an intense core built on concentrated flavors of dried blackberry, black currant and black cherry leather layered with paprika, ground turmeric, black tea, bay leaf and sage. An impressive, polished Douro, this expands steadily across the palate. Fine-grained tannins and a subtle interplay of fruit skin and licorice root bitterness carry this wine, with beautiful structure through the long, persistent finish. Accessible now but will reward short-term cellaring. Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Alicante. Drink now through 2035.