TN: 2000 Chryseia Douro

[Andy Velebil]

I opened this to celebrate the the 2011 reaching the #3 Wine Spectator spot for 2014. While I prefer to avoid using other countries as comparison, the best way to describe this is to compare it to a Burgundy. It's taken on a more delicate red cherry with spices tone, and a touch of oak tannin still popping out. It appears to be on a mature plateau and I'd probably recommend enjoying this over the next few years. Holding up well considering this was the first vintage of this wine.
89 Points

[Filipe PSilva]

I opened this to celebrate the the 2011 reaching the #3 Wine Spectator spot for 2014. While I prefer to avoid using other countries as comparison, the best way to describe this is to compare it to a Burgundy. It's taken on a more delicate red cherry with spices tone, and a touch of oak tannin still popping out. It appears to be on a mature plateau and I'd probably recommend enjoying this over the next few years. Holding up well considering this was the first vintage of this wine.
89 Points

I have a 2009 that I got some years ago and just got a 2011 the day the result got out... I was lucky to find one at the Cockburn's Lodge shop, as at the Graham's Lodge shop and in all the wine shops I look around Porto I only found the 2012. I really want to keep those a few more years but it's really hard...

[Brian C.]

Andy,

I just looked in the database and saw that you gave this wine 93 points about 7 years ago. Do you recall that particular bottle at all?

Would you say that the jury is out on how well Douro reds will age over time, as there isn't a track record like in other established regions? I went through a case of 2003 Dao reds recently, the Quinta dos Roques Reserva, one that you kindly pointed out at K&L that was on deep discount, you might remember. I found that they were pretty disjointed over the first year, and they started to come back together 1-2 years ago as I wound it down. It would be interesting to see what they are like in a few more years, anyway.

I am curious as to how the maturation cycle is for Douro reds (and other regions in Portugal for that matter), though, and how it will all unfold as we learn more about it.

[Andy Velebil]

Andy,

I just looked in the database and saw that you gave this wine 93 points about 7 years ago. Do you recall that particular bottle at all?

Would you say that the jury is out on how well Douro reds will age over time, as there isn't a track record like in other established regions? I went through a case of 2003 Dao reds recently, the Quinta dos Roques Reserva, one that you kindly pointed out at K&L that was on deep discount, you might remember. I found that they were pretty disjointed over the first year, and they started to come back together 1-2 years ago as I wound it down. It would be interesting to see what they are like in a few more years, anyway.

I am curious as to how the maturation cycle is for Douro reds (and other regions in Portugal for that matter), though, and how it will all unfold as we learn more about it.

Brian,
Funny you should mention this as about a year or so ago a friend of mine who's a huge Douro wine guy were talking about this. We both agreed that the early years of Douro wines (prior to 2003) are mostly reaching, or have reached, maturity. What we both were concerned about more so was the middle years, 2003 to about 2009, when there was a lot of new oak being used, among other things. We both feel that a good portion of these middle years won't stand up to the test of time. That's not to say they are not good wines right now, as they are. But this was still the early years for Douro wines when wine makers were still learning about how good Douro wines would age and what is really needed and what isn't so good to do. What didn't help was the popularity of high-oaked wines from all wine regions.

Now that is not to say there aren't some very well made wines that will hold up from these early and middle years, as there are. But I feel the majority will struggle to stay balanced and age gracefully. IMO, Douro wine producers have learned a lot in a short amount of time and I'm quite excited about the newer vintages and their ability to age long term.

As for my own empirical evidence on upper end Douro wines and closed phases. Roughly speaking, I've found many of the top red wines tend to close up around the 4-6 year mark and then come back out 2-3 years later. Again, that is a real loose estimate. Whites tend to enter the phase a bit faster, around 3-5 years, and come out of it 2-3 years later. It would be an interesting question to pose to some Douro wine producers to get their thoughts and opinions on it.