2009 Claudia Quevedo

[Roy Hersh]

Last night I tried for the very first time, the 2009 Quevedo "Claudia's Reserve" which caught me by surprise. I did not decant this in advance, which now I regret and realize was a mistake. This is a beautiful young and expressive red wine that is deeply concentrated and screams old school Douro character. I was not expecting the sheer depth of flavors and complexity that this youngster brought to the palate, filled with a rich melange of dark berry fruit, it is stylistically dry, laced with an earthy minerality and seemingly very well integrated exhibiting low octane alcohol which I appreciated, while drinking this on its own. The structure was led by the granular gripping tannins and fine acidity, which provide lots of potential for this Claudia's to improve over the rest of this decade, and likely a few years hence. In fact, I am going to leave most of the rest of my bottles to cellar for two or three more years, before I start to drink them. I enjoyed it last night, but this will be a gorgeous wine a few years down the road. To date, this is the best DOC wine I've had from Quevedo. 91+ points

[Carl D]

Last night I tried for the very first time, the 2009

2001 (as the subject says) or 2009 (as the body says)?

[Roy Hersh]

9 ... thanks.

[Eric Menchen]

Do we tell Oscar?

[Roy Hersh]

Tell him what?

[Glenn E.]

Do we tell Oscar?

Oscar's Douro Red is named for Oscar and Claudia's father, who was also named Oscar. So I doubt there would be any sibling rivalry over the issue.

Besides, Claudia is the winemaker. The Oscar we know would be totally at her mercy if he had an eponymous wine!

[Roy Hersh]

Oscar's father is alive ... so was ... should be "is".

[Glenn E.]

Oscar's father is alive ... so was ... should be "is".

D'ohh! My apologies!

[Eric Menchen]

And my mistake. I thought it was named after the junior Oscar.

[Rune EG]

This was an interesting tasting note.
During the 2010 FTLOP Harvest Tour we tasted the 2008 Claudia Douro red and I liked it. Looking into my notes I gave it 90 pts at that time. Have been looking for this wine, but seems to be hard to find outside Portugal.
Since 2009 in general is better for Douro reds (in my opinion) than the 2008, then the 2009 Claudia would be very interesting to taste.

[Roy Hersh]

It was part of the FTLOP buyer's offering that was available to you in the EU my friend.