Alvaro Castro Carrocel (Quinta Da Pellada)

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：2805

The 2008 CARROCEL “QUINTA DA PELLADA” is 100% Touriga Nacional and a potentially great one, aged for 14 months in new French oak. Pointed and focused, with considerable tannins and a need to integrate them, this otherwise elegant wine is nonetheless perfectly constructed and looks like a big, big winner, dripping with potential and likely to age gracefully. Its steely purity is impressive and it should improve steadily in the cellar. It may be awhile before its full potential is realized, though, and it will require some patience to allow it to show all that it has. Note: The “Carrocel” is so-called because of rotating vinification in two different lagares, a special vinification method. Castro says he abandoned that method this year to avoid too much concentration in the wine. Drink 2015-2031. On most short lists to be nominated as the finest producer in his region, Castro makes a wide variety of wines that have two things in common—they have character and they tend to age well. In the USA, hardly anyone knows who he is—or even what Dao is. In Portugal, he is a cult-ish winemaker and people recognize the enormous potential in this old region. It is another example, unfortunately, of how a simple fact seems to control some realities—if his labels said “Burgundy” instead of “Dao,” people would no doubt be lining up. Note: Some of Castro’s wines, like the regular Tinto, are technically made under the formal producer name of Quinta da Pellada, although most, like the Reservas, prominently advertise his own name. Some (like the Reserva Tinto) do both. For convenience, they have all been grouped here. In Portuguese fashion, the brand (like “PAPE”) or the Quinta (when it is actually a single vineyard wine and not used just as a producer name) often subsumes the producer name in any event.Importer: Laurel Importers, Bristol, R.I.; tel: (401) 396-9661