Duas Quintas 25th Anniversary Vertical of Douro Whites

Award winning wine writer Sarah Ahmed reports on the Duas Quintas 25th Anniversary Vertical Tasting of Douro DOC Whites on her website, The Wine Detective.

Duas Quintas, of the famous Port House Ramos Pinto, produces exceptional dry wines from the Ervamoira and Bons Ares vineyards in the Douro Superior region of Portugal.

Sarah Ahmed writes that Duas Quintas “helped to forge the modern era of Douro wines and Ports” by being the first winemakers to block plant (i.e. in single varietal parcels) and vertically plant their vineyards. As well as pioneering these techniques, Duas Quintas’ Chief winemaker João Nicolau de Almeida has been exceptionally successful. In fact, when describing the 25th Anniversary vertical tasting he went so far as to say: “my work is done”.

Ahmed’s detailed tasting notes describe the Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas Branco from the 1994 to 2014 vintage, and reveal that Duas Quintas have succeeded in producing some exceptionally age-worthy wines:

“[The] vertical kicked off with the 1994 Branco Classico.  It blew me away – in fact I go so far as to say it was my wine of the tasting (reds and whites).  Surprised, I asked de Almeida what accounted for the longevity of the whites given their acidity is not especially high. He replied that volume and composition is the main thing – “if you give more fruit to the wines, more different flavours and have an nice ensemble, the wine can age like that – have a nice evolution and become more complex.”  It’s why, he explained, ‘we are looking for more varieties with complexity’.”

Ahmed described the current vintage Duas Quintas Branco as: delicate toasty, nutty…with sweet yellow plum, green apple peel and hints of  pastis/anise and lime zest which follow through on an expressive palate. It has the richness with delicacy which categorises my favourite Duas Quintas whites.  A long, mineral lemony finish completes this stand out vintage.

Click here to read the whole article.

Contact Christine to find out more about these exceptional and age-worthy whites.