Quinta da Pellada Casa 2013

Parker über: Quinta da Pellada Casa

-- Parker: The 2013 Casa Quinta da Pellada was aged in eight-year-old French barrels for about 28 months. This wine is another of the winery's lessons in terroir this issue: this parcel of Pellada is the 'most exposed' of the three and has '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.' By far the burliest, the sexiest and ripest, this has a surprisingly fresh edge nonetheless. That said, it lacks the Alto's precision, grace and focus (not to mention the overall balance of the estate Pellada blend). Adding big fruit, nicely supported by its power and intensity, this just preens at times and demands attention. The tannins do mean that it is harder edged and a bit more difficult to drink young. I personally preferred the Tinto Pellada (2012), the Alto and this in that order, but the stylistic differences are far more important than the qualitative differences. This is the one in the blockbuster style—at least relative to Castro's normal, graceful style, but it is fair to say that it never goes over the top. It may age better than anticipated (which I can say for all of them), but there is no track record, so let's take that in stages. This is scheduled for release on September 1, 2017. 95/100