WINE AND SOUL PINTAS DOURO 2018

The 2018 Pintas is a field blend (over 40 grapes, but the dominant grapes are Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional) from old vines (around 90 years) aged for 20 months in 30% new French oak. It comes in at 14.8% alcohol. Big, fruity and textured with velvet, this is a sexy Pintas with good balance, intensity of flavor and plenty of concentration. The oak needs to be pulled in over a couple of years, but this delicious Pintas is hard to resist even now. It should develop well and improve over the next decade (or two). How well it develops will determine its final ceiling. It is already a star. The question now is how brightly it will shine. I'm not sure it will outdo the recent vintages, but it should hang with them just fine.

This red offers power, with full, supple tannins containing the ripe black cherry and steeped boysenberry flavors infused with toast, graphite and baking spice accents. A vibrant acidity keeps this focused, with elements of anise and herb marking the finish.

Trodden by foot in open lagars and then aged in wood for nearly two years, this wine is darkly colored and densely textured. It comes from a field blend of old vines. It is richly structured and sure to age well. Don't drink before 2024.

Closing in on 90 years of age, the Vale Mendiz parcel that Jorge Serodio Borges and Sandra Tavares farm for Pintas yielded a voluptuous 2018. The fruit comes first, effusive berries in reds and blues, then the flowers and herbs back it up, and the wine lasts on scents of bay leaf and rosemary. It’s clean and brisk with peppery refinement to the tannins keeping the wine focused and showing off its youthful energy. This will need years in the cellar to reach peak drinking.