Dão Vinhas Velhas, Antonio Madeira

Deep crimson. Gloriously aromatic with pure non-sweet red fruits. Beautiful tannins: fine without being light, smooth without being anodyne. Like many layers of silk. Fresh, youthful with a subtle intensity and great harmony and length. Refined, pure and with the character of the Dão shining through the fruit of the old vines. - Julia Harding MW

The old-vine red 2021 Vinhas Velhas Tinto comes from different plots of mixed varieties, 75% of them Baga, Jaen and Tinta Amarela and the rest some 20 old varieties, some almost lost, Marufo, Tinta Pinheira, Negro Mouro, Tinta Carvalha, Bastardo, Alfrocheiro, Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet and many others. The fermentation was inspired by Henri Jayer, a cold soak and a soft vinification, he calls an infusion. It matured in 225-, 400-, 500- and 600-liter oak barrels for 18 months. It has 13.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.69 and 6.01 grams of acidity. Madeira told me that the search is "for a wine with intense flavors, depth, mineral, fresh and with salivating saltiness, a wine for the table." In 2021, the wines have lower alcohol, and somehow, this wine feels a little more marked by the oak despite the fact that the oak was all used. It has fine tannins and good freshness, very tasty flavors and a fine thread. - Luis Gutiérrez

Sikke en puristisk, isnende klar og kompromisløs frugt, der kommer ud af dette field blend. Uhyre skarptsleben og usminket, sart underspillet, fersk og grafittet. Floral elegant såvel som dyb frugtig med pebrede boysenbær, indkogt granatæblesaft, blyantspids og harpiks. Stilen er næsten knibsk og underspillet, men her er nerve og definition, høj syre og markant, men finkornet tannin. Og det distinkte salte bid følger trop i eftersmagen, som synes at gennemsyre Madeiras vine.

Sikke en puristisk, isnende klar og kompromisløs frugt, der kommer ud af dette field blend. Uhyre skarptsleben og usminket, sart underspillet, fersk og grafittet. Floral elegant såvel som dyb frugtig med pebrede boysenbær, indkogt granatæblesaft, blyantspids og harpiks. Stilen er næsten knibsk og underspillet, men her er nerve og definition, høj syre og markant, men finkornet tannin. Og det distinkte salte bid følger trop i eftersmagen, som synes at gennemsyre Madeiras vine.