A really good article and review of some Douro wines

[Andy Velebil]

They hit hard against a couple expensive wines and gave good accolades to some lesser priced ones. What are you're thoughts on this?

Our 20 bottles were $7 to $87. Generally in lineups like this, the most expensive bottles are easy to single out. You can almost taste the investment: the new oak barrels lending their woody, vanilla sheen; the density, richness and power of the fruit flavors, which come from grapes that have been babied every step of the way. It can all be too much.

In fact, two of the three bottles over $60 did not make the cut. The 2007 Quinta do Vale Meão ($87) was much too oaky and powerfully fruity. It was so dense that I felt as if the producers had tried to cram a case’s worth of wine into a single bottle. The 2009 Quinta do Vallado ($63) was a rare Douro wine made entirely of one grape, the touriga nacional, rather than a blend of many. We liked it better than the more expensive bottle, but it, too, was overly fruity and, frankly, a bit simple.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/dinin ... wanted=all

[Roy Hersh]

I am glad to see someone agrees with me how darn good the Palestra is. Darn good for the price and even at 3x that price!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/dinin ... wanted=all

[Brian C.]

And I'm glad someone agrees with me about the Callabriga. I have found it for considerably cheaper than the price indicated in the article, also. The only other one I've tried on that list is the Bomfim, and that one didn't excite me nearly as much.

[Roy Hersh]

I've found considerable variation in the Bomfim and that variance is due to vintage, as it should be. More than some other Douro wines which seem more linear from year to year, the Bomfim truly speaks to the terroir of the property. I've really enjoyed some years and others, not so much. But given the very reasonable price, you can hardly go wrong.

[Brian C.]

That's good to know. It was quite awhile ago that I tried the Bomfim, before I discovered this board, so I'm thinking about four years ago. I don't remember what vintage it was. I guess I'm going to have to buy another one at Binny's and give it another shot.

[Andy Velebil]

I have merged these two posts on the same article.

[Brian G r a f s t r o m]

I've enjoyed both the 2005 Bomfim (87 points) as well as the 2007 Bomfim (85 points).

Obviously, mid-80's points means I didn't think it was mind-blowing, but we're talking about an interesting wine that costs less than $10, and shows a real sense of place. I have one bottle of the '07 still laying down; I will probably uncork it sometime in the latter half of 2014 --- I'm expecting it to be a lovely little drink.