Quinta do Tedo has a Single Quinta classification, the Portuguese equivalent to an Estate, Domaine or Azienda. One hundred percent of the grapes come from our own 34 acres (14 hectares) of class "A" vineyards, the highest rating from the Portuguese Instituto do Vinho do Porto, equivalent to Grand Cru.
The quinta is bordered by the Tedo River to the west, the Douro River to the north, and to the east and southeast by large, carved feitoria stones which mark the landscape like sentries.
I bought this bottle some months ago at a famous winestore here in the Netherlands, Ockhuyzen in Haarlem.
Today i decided to crack this one open and give it a try. The label is one of the nicest i ever seen, very colourful. The backlabel provides some useful information of the Quinta itself.
At 8:00 AM i decanted the bottle. The cork required some pulling and was pristine except for the bottom 3 mm which was saturated from the wine.
The smell is very fruity, it smells like i open a bottle of liquid jelly made of black fruit. I smell blackberries, cassis. The colour is not the pitchblack like the Dow 1994 i opened a few months before this one but dark red with a sign of tawny red on the edges.
The first glass:
After 13 hours of decanting in a, for the most time, closed decanter i decided to give it a try. The smell is still very heavy and the smell of fruit is still the same.
The first sip is a delight ! Very sweet, lots of tannines and a long aftertaste. After 2 minutes i still taste the abundance of fruit in this wine.
The second sip is a more serious tasting. I let it roll through my entire mouth and feel a pleasant tickle on the palate. The tannines start to expose themselves as a grind my teeth and chew on the wine. I love it.
The aftertaste keeps improving itself, after 3 minutes i can still feel the tannines and still can taste the wine on the palate.
This is why i started to like port ! After years of drinking the cheap supermarket ports i now understand fully what i missed all those years.
Great great wine with years ahead. This was my only bottle so i have to get some more of this before its too late. Mr Vincent Bouchard and Jorge Alves really delivered a outstanding wine.
I rate it my highest score so far: 95 points
