2016 Quinta do Vale Dona Maria

The 2016 Tinto (Quinta Vale D. Maria) is a field blend from old vines, aged for 21 months in a two-thirds/one-third mixture of new and second use French barriques. It comes in at 15% alcohol. This certainly seems dense and ripe, like the 2015, but it also seems far better balanced, at least as the two show today. It seems lighter but fresher, more graceful and less alcoholic in perception. The fruit is better lifted. It's not as attention getting as the 2015, but at least today it is the better wine—although it does not have as high an upside. Beautifully textured with velvet, this has a sensual feel once past the ripe fruit. It finishes with some power, but it is not overly astringent. Well crafted yet still rather sexy, this shouldn't take quite as much time to come around as the 2015, but you would still be well advised to stay on that same path—give it to around 2024 if you can, when it will have more nuance, harmony and complexity. There were 10,276 bottles produced, plus some large-format bottles.