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Portugal
Adega Cooperativa de Alijo "Xisto Velho Grande Escolha" 2000, D.O. Douro **HERITAGE WINE**
Color:
very dark red - brown.
Nose:
very expressive, intense, very serious and classical style, ripe,
mature, earthy, lots of minerals, ripe and some dried fruit (raisins,
figs), warm, spicy, some farmyard, tobacco, smoke, roasted nuts,
vanilla, mushrooms, a whiff of mint, deep, complex, very impressive,
great terroir expression, very pure and honest.
Taste:
very powerful, medium bodied, intense, with lots of classical, but ripe
tannins, good acidity, a touch of austerity, also mature nuances, many
nuances of earth, spices, farmyard, smoke, tobacco, cedar, mushrooms,
minerals, classy ripe and dried fruit, very good length, complex, deep,
unyielding style, but not hard or tough, very strong expression of
terroir, excellent integration of oak, very good balance. Impressive,
very honest and pure.
Finish: very
long, with again a lot of nuances: fruit, spices, earth, minerals,
tannins, acidity, vanilla, very intense and multi layered.
Excellent balance, very impressive.
* A very impressive,
strong, intense and complex wine, loaded with earthy, spicy and mineral
nuances, dried fruit and strong tannins, very classical in style, super
honest expression of its terroir, a rare wine from another time, in
fact a relict, very exciting to taste so much "class from the past".
- Drink it from now on, will keep for a few years: up to 2010 - 15 .
- This wine reminds me of
classical Bordeaux from the seventies. There is a wealth of
tannins, but they have matured nicely and are not tough or dry, there
is a strong acidity that gives this wine its backbone and length, there
is ample alcohol, more than in Bordeaux those days, there are also more
spicy nuances, but the structure and the unyielding style come quite
close. What you may miss is elegance and refinement, but this is
excellent compensated by the impeccable balance in this wine. You
certainly will not find the modern upfront fruit, the toasted oak and
thank good the over extracted and dry tannins from too much and too
new wood and over extracted skins. This wine obviously is made
from very old, low yielding vines in a good vineyard. Not a top
vineyard I guess, but the intensity and complexity of the minerals
provide so much structure and depth in this wine, it is very impressive
to taste. Well done, even a huge and heterogeneous Coop in the Douro
has the ability (and drive) to produce such a landmark (they also produce an exciting red sparkler), why don't we
see more of this type and quality? There is so much potential in so
many vineyards all over the world. Do not grub-up all those lovely low
yielding old vines. Even grape varieties considered mediocre yield
stunning wines from old plots in certain vineyards. Yes, do plant
Cabernet and Chardonnay for pleasure, but preserve these little
precious islands of history in the vineyards. It takes generations to
bring this quality back, and in this world we simply have no time (and
money) to wait so long to achieve this quality again.
- lotnr.: --
- tasted: 19-06-’07
- estimated retail price
ca. € 30,=
- average production: not
known
- Adega Cooperativa de Alijo, Mr. Marco Moura, Avenida 25 de Abril . nº 15 . 5070-011 ALIJÓ, tel: +351-259 959 101 . fax: +351-259 959 804 . e-mail: adegalijo.qualidade@mail.telepac.pt , web site: www.adegalijo.com