The 2008 TOURIGA NACIONAL “GRACE VINEYARD - MARQUES DOS VALES” was aged for 12 months in French oak, and is well marked by it in its youth. There is fine structure here, though, a real backbone that should serve this fragrant, otherwise exceptionally graceful wine in good stead if it manages to integrate the vanilla better with time, as I am betting that it will. Elegant in the mid-palate, it is tightly wound and has some upside potential. Its price point is under 13 Euros in Portugal. There were 5,000 bottles produced. Drink 2011-2017.This is a first look at this winery in Algarve, a region not terribly well known for wine even in Portugal. Marketing under its brand name, Marques dos Vales, Quinta dos Vales calls itself a “wine and art farm” in the Central Western Algarve, possessed of vineyards, orchards with citrus, figs, plums, apricots, and peaches, plus two sculpture gardens and an animal park. The winemakers here are Paulo Laureano, the esteemed winemaker from Mouchao, and Dorina Lindemann. This may well have been my favorite showing of the Algarve wineries featured in this report. Note: The top level wines carry “Grace” or “Grace Vineyard” on the label. Despite “Grace Vineyard” on some of the labels, I’m told in fact that the wines are NOT single vineyard wines, but are sourced from “Quinta dos Vales’ estate plus a vineyard in the area of Silves.” The term Grace Vineyard, representing the Grace statute on the estate, is used when the wines are blends, while monovarietal wines are simply labeled, for instance, “Grace - Touriga Nacional.” It is admittedly hard to understand, but the winery says it has legal approval. In any event—just drink the wine. It is pretty good.There is no USA importer at this time.