TN: 2005 Quinta do Vale Meão Meandro Douro

[Andy Velebil]

Cracked this last night as well and there was enough left for a couple of glasses tonight. A nice medium bodied stuffed with lots of tannins and graphite which is balanced by dark red fruit. I like the way this drinks right now, but I fear the tannins will overtake the fruit as it subsides with age and throw it out of balance. In its defense, this is the little brother of the regular Vale Meao and meant to be more of a early to mid term drinker. And with that in mind, this fulfills that role perfectly.
88 points.

[Roy Hersh]

Andy,

Do you prefer the 2004, 2005 or 2006 Meandro the best? In fact, I'd appreciate if you would put them in order of preference and let us know why. I know you've had some of these on several occasions and are quite familiar with the producer.

[Andy Velebil]

Out of the three, I prefer the 2004 the best, the 2006 second, and the 2005 third. Although it's close between the 2005/2006 as I gave them the same score for recent bottles.

The 2005 seems to have hit a good balance at point in time. But as I mentioned in the TN, the strong tannins were starting to over take the fruit and I am curious as to how that will play out with extended aging. My feeling is it will knock it out of balance and lead to an awkward tasting wine where it's all tannins over dried out fruit. Since I had this over two days I didn't get any sense this was closed up.

The 2006 by contrast still had good body, balance, and structure. Actually, it came off as still being very young and needed 4-5 hours of decanting to start showing it's best. Even though 2006 wasn't as great a year overall in the Douro for dry wines, I think this will outlive the 2005. which is interesting as the last time I had this it was a bit hot and disjointed and I thought it wouldn't do as well long term. Now it appears the two have switched places as the 2006 comes into it own.

The 2004 is a whole other story and a wonderful wine that has many years ahead of it. Still youthful and full of vigor. But 2004 was also overall a great year for Douro dry wines...I can't wait to try the 2007 now!