Novemeber VT: Any RED Douro wine between 2000-2008 vintage

[Andy Velebil]

I'll start it off with my Sunday Douro wine

2006 Meandro Vale do Meao Douro
Found this at a local retailer this morning for all of $17.00 so I thought it would be good to try. Opened this at lunch and just finished it with a friend who stopped by unannounced. This put on some nice weight with about 4-5 hours hours of decanting. The initial lean cherries have given way to blackberries, leather, some cedar, and a touch of young oak the longer this has been open. I highly recommend a good decant for this to show it's best. A very nice buy for the price. I also picked up the 2005 vintage and look forward to comparing it to this bottle.
89 points.
11/01/09

[Roy Hersh]

I will be back here after Game 6 of the World Series. I have pulled a 2003 Redoma Tinto to sip during the game and drink with dinner on Wed. night and will provide impressions thereafter.

[Frederick Blais]

Yesterday there was a wine fair in Montreal, it is still on today also at Marché Bonsecour for those interested.

I did taste the Quinta do Passadouro Reserva 2005

A beautiful wine, very aromatic, with plums, cherries and licorice, some chocolate and minerality too. On the palate the wine display a great variety of flavours, lovely minerality, balance is achieve and a backbone of tannins that have a lovely grain. 17/20+

I also tried the white, buy all you can! at that price it is a great value, around 22$can So probalby 15$ us or less if you remove SAQ big profits :)

[Andy Velebil]

TN: 2006 Callabriga Douro -- by Sogrape
by Andy Velebil » Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:29 pm

The moderate oak is balanced nicely with bing cherries and good minerality. This puts on a little more weight 24 hours after opening and the finish, which started out slightly clipped, also evolves to be much fuller. This was only $7.00 and a great value at that price. 86 points.

[Frederick Blais]

Vertente 2005

I did open the bottle 2 days ago and right after I pulled the cork, the first glass was not clean. I took a 2nd glass and still the wine was looking it lost all its charm it used to have to display high acidity, rustic fruit and tannins. I did put the cork back on and revisited it 2 days later(tonight). What a change, that time the wine was simply as it used to be, great concentration of fruit, silky and smooth oak presence, finely grained tannins on the finish. A classic Douro and probably my favourite Vertente, it looks like it wants to shut down though. 16.5/20+

[Mike Kerr]

2006 Altano Reserve

I opened this a few days ago and had some with dinner.

Deep purple colour, nose of grapes, blackberry, hints of chocolate. I don't recall ever having a wine that tasted radically different than it smelled that wasn't off in some way. This wine wasn't off, but the flavour wasn't nearly as complex or full as the nose led me to believe. Whereas I can make out some distinct flavours in Port, I found it hard to do that with this wine. It was definitely earthy, dark berries, but nothing else comes to mind. Having said that, it wasn't an unpleasant flavour, I just couldn't make out distinguishing ones for some reason... Wine was juicy yet moderately tannic. I want to say it was moderately acidic, but am just learning how to detect that.

I'd like to say it's beefy enough to age another 5-10 years in the cellar with no problem. Not a light wine, but not really a beefy one either. I'd drink it again, but at the $28 I paid, I can find others just as enjoyable for half the price.

Mike.

[Roy Hersh]

TN: 2005 Quinta do Crasto Vinha Velha Reserva - I had not had a single DOC wine in a few weeks and finally had the chance to pull a cork before leaving NY last night. Very tasty and deeply extracted with dense and chewy purple and blue fruits. Solid structure and a really enjoyable drink, opened four hours prior to consumption, this could have used another few hours. Not up to the same level as the 2006, but it is still a very solid wine. It is very accessible today but should drink well for 8-12 more years. 93 points