Alvaro Castro: Quinta da Pellada 2015

Parker über: Quinta da Pellada

-- Parker: The 2015 Tinto (Quinta da Pellada), the estate flagship, is a field blend (over 40 grapes) from old vines. It is principally, for identified grapes, mainly Alvarelhão, Tinta Pinheira, Touriga Nacional, Jaen and Tinta Amarela. Plus, since 1991, Castro uses some Jaen and Touriga Nacional. It was aged for 24 months in well-used French barriques (five to seven years old) and comes in at 13.3% alcohol. This was sourced from Pellada's Block 4 of Mata (forest) and Block 2 of Casa (house). Castro says Casa 'has a more compact soil with some clay besides the granite, the intense presence of rose/white quartz and the one that has more sun hours per day. Mata has less clay and more granitic sand.' With beautiful acidity, this has some of the same wonderful aromatics and flavors of the 2014, with those nods to Pinot Noir and Burgundy. Keep in mind: this is still well on the elegant side. It won't hit you over the head. That is emphatically not the Castro style. If you appreciate old-school finesse, though, it seems superlative, despite all his moaning to me about hard this vintage was. However, this is a more complete wine than the 2014, with more upside potential. It is a bit fruitier and more concentrated. The aromatics and power are the same, likely to make you think this is a fine Burgundy. This is ultimately the better wine compared to the 2014 this issue. The 2014 is more expressive today, but this wins in the end. This is also a bit more backwards, though, so keep that in mind. Drink the 2014 first, even if this seems approachable now—and it is impeccably balanced. That is very much the Castro style 96/100