2020 Quinta do Vale Meao Douro
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Full bottle an unnecessarily heavy 1,405 g. A rainy start to the season with heatwaves in June and July, leading to low yields. 60% Touriga Nacional, 35% Touriga Franca, 3% Tinta Barroca, 2% Tinta Roriz. After being crushed, the grapes were cooled down and trodden by foot during four hours in granite lagares and then transferred to small, refrigerated stainless-steel fermentation vats. In this vintage approximately 10% of the wines fermented with stems. Each grape variety and vineyard is vinified separately. The final blend is made at bottling. All the wine was matured in French Allier oak barriques (225 litres), 45% new and 55% second usage. Black core with deep crimson rim. Packed with blackberry and blueberry fruit, plenty of fruit sweetness as well as oak spice and what I think of as oak-derived sweetness. Really spicy, dark, slightly rocky/charry and embryonic but surprisingly expressive on the nose. Powerful, tannic, chewy yet balanced even in this youthful state. Mouth-filling fruit with just enough freshness. While the tannins are big, they are also smooth and polished. Needs time and food. (JH)
Critic scores
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Mark Squires
More reviews and scores
The 2020 Tinto is a blend of 35% Touriga Franca, 60% Touriga Nacional and dollops of Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca filling out the blend, all aged for 16 months in 40% new French oak. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. This is more the typical Touriga Nacional-dominant blend, as opposed to last year. This combines concentration and freshness, but with the Touriga Nacional ascendant again, it is also fruitier, lacing the palate with blue fruits. It remains elegant and polished, as well as delicious. Xito Olazabal said he liked this better than the 2019, and I'd tend to agree, if only for the flavor profile. They are both pretty fine, to be sure. Reasonable minds might differ.