Quinta do Vallado
Touriga Nacional Douro 2008
95 points / $55
2,188 cases made
Douro Valley, Portugal
The Ferreira family, once best-known for Port, branched out to table wine in 1995 at this estate overlooking the river Corgo. (They later sold the Port house.) Vallado’s team includes cousins João Ribeiro, Francisco Ferreira and consulting winemaker Francisco Olazabal, who also works at his family’s Quinta do Vale Meão. Rather than a blend of grapes, this wine is a rare single-variety Touriga Nacional, a tricky grape to fully ripen. But the 2008 is dark and concentrated, with finesse.
Congratulations to Quinta do Vallado. Their 2008 Touriga Nacional came in at #7 on the Wine Spectator's 2011 Top 100 list. This is a major achievement and a great thing for Douro wines in general and Vallado in particular.
Roy Hersh wrote:Congratulations to Quinta do Vallado. Their 2008 Touriga Nacional came in at #7 on the Wine Spectator's 2011 Top 100 list. This is a major achievement and a great thing for Douro wines in general and Vallado in particular.
Figures, I have a case of their 2007 that WS could care less about Still a great wine.
The Portuguese wine industry celebrates another banner year in 2011, as Portuguese table wines continue to gain recognition and respect, reinforcing the country's reputation as one of the world's leading producers of quality wines. This trend is reflected by the inclusion of numerous Portuguese wines in the "Best of 2011" lists, appearing in the end of year issues of the major wine reviewing publications.
Wine Enthusiast magazine selected 10 Portuguese wines for their annual Top 100 Best Buys 2011, which features wines under $15 that offer superior value for price. These wines are carefully selected from a list of 1,224 reviewed wines that meet the magazine's specifications for "Best Buys". Making up a full 10% of the list, Portugal comes in ahead of Spain, Chile, Argentina and Italy. In addition to two Portuguese wines being listed in the Top 10, the selected wines represent six different Portuguese wine regions, up from three in 2010.
Wine Spectator´s Top 100 also acknowledges Portugal's rightful place on the global wine stage, with four wines among the top rated wines of 2011, and one ranked in the top 10. Another significant change is the increase in the number of wine regions represented in this magazine, showing a growing interest in the diversity of grape varieties and terroirs of the Portugal.
In terms of rating evaluation numbers, Portuguese wines receive above-average ratings, compared to French, Spanish and Italian wines in each of the Top 100 lists, reaffirming the value of these world-class, distinctive wines.
I also bought a case of the 2007 Vallado Touriga Nacional on release and am thrilled I did. It may not be a 95 point wine but it is darn good. I still have 10 bottles of the original case left and don't see drinking them down anytime soon. They will age beautifully.
Please correct me if I am mistaken, but I think the flagship red table wine of Quinta do Crasto got the #3 rank of the WS Top 100 two years ago. Nice to see this trend!
Ray Barnes wrote:Please correct me if I am mistaken, but I think the flagship red table wine of Quinta do Crasto got the #3 rank of the WS Top 100 two years ago. Nice to see this trend!
Yes it's great to see some Portuguese wines getting some good recognition. There are some crazy good wines at crazy good prices coming out of Portugal. But I'm preaching to the choir on that here.
At the moment I'm in Australia and was pleased to find the 2009 Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional at a keen price (imported wine are usually very expensive). Although it's not the '08, it's still a lovely wine.
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Still a great wine.