2008 Pintas

Old-vine field blend. Fragrant crushed dark fruit and a hint of violets. Pure, touch of garrigue wildness, almost a minty note. Succulent, rich but not heavy. Deep-pile, smooth richness but with the minerality to keep it light on its feet. Superb fruit without an ounce of excess sweetness. (JH)

Expressive, fresh yet jammy nose, smooth textured tannins and a very long, very charming aniseed and liquorice tone to the finish. Juvenile, but not delinquent. (RH)

The 2008 PINTAS is this year’s iteration of the flagship wine, a very old vines (78 years) Douro field blend. Like a lot of wines in this vintage, this opens with a hard edge, crisp and bright, powerful and closed, with an elegant mid-palate. It is also fragrant and flavorful, persistent and lingering on the finish. As it aired out, it dribbled persistent flavor over the palate, while retaining its elegance and intensity. Much different at this stage than the ’07, it is very pointed and focused, better integrated with respect to oak, and more powerful. It is a wine that I suspect will develop beautifully in the cellar. Its price tag will be off-putting to many, but this is a wine that should give a collector a chance to play with it for awhile in many different incarnations. I liked it more and more as I spent more and more time with it. Admittedly a little hard to evaluate when I saw it, it has a lot of upside potential and I think it will be one of the more interesting wines of the vintage when it settles down. There were 5,500 bottles produced. Drink 2013-2028. Importer: Winebow, Inc., Montvale, N.J.; tel: (201) 445-0620