TASTING at QUINTA DA GAIVOSA

Mercado dos Vinhos 2017

Tasting at QUINTA DA GAIVOSA

This proof will have to be divided into 2 parts. The first, inthe fantastic tasting room of Quinta da Gaivosa, accompanied by a fantastic homemade ball, so that thewines did not fall into weakness. After a visit to the vineyardsand facilities of Gaivosa, the ball (and the wines) could notfall better… And the second, no less fantastic Chaxoila restaurant, in Vila Real.

Let’s go to the first part:

 

 

1 – White Wine GAIVOSA 2016

  • Type: White
  • Grape varieties: Malvasia Fina, Rabigato and Gouveio
  • Alcohol content: 12.5%
  • Price: 9 euros
  • Rating: 15

Flavour with lots of fruit, some sweetness in the mouth and some gaseous. It is a wine almost without wood (“has only onepiece” in the words of James), but that denotes less freshness than in previous years. Maybe the fact that they excluded Arinto from the grape lot.

  • 15 Valores 83% 83%

2 – ALVES DE SOUSA PESSOAL 2011

  • Type: White wine
  • Grape varieties: N/A
  • Alcohol content: 12.5%
  • Price: 29 euros
  • Rating: 17.5

Color loaded, complex aroma denoting some evolution. Made from vineyards with more than 60 years, with at least10 different castes. maceration 2 days and hyperoxidation of the must. 12 months in new French oak barrels. A full-bodied, tasty wine, to which it is not possibleto remain indifferent. A very own style, remembering a whiteharbor, but with body! A wine made to be released later: This 2011 was only released in 2018!

  • 17,5 Valores 83% 83%

3 – VALE DA RAPOSA SOUSÃO 2015

  • Type: Red wine
  • Grape varieties: Sousão
  • Alcohol content: 14.5%
  • Price: 25 euros
  • Rating: 17

Stark, menolated flavour. In full mouth, intense but restrained fruit. A wine with great structure, tannins in high, and very pleasant acidity. This vineyard of Sousão is exposed to the west, so that the acidity is more intense and the tannin more polished. Balanced wooden notes (15 months in 2-year barrels of French and Portuguese oak). A somewhat rustic and very gastronomic wine.

  • 17 Valores 90% 90%

4 – QUINTA DA GAIVOSA 2015

  • Type: Red wine
  • Grape varieties: N/D
  • Alcohol content: 14.5%
  • Price: 33 euros
  • Rating: 17,5

Fantastic and complex flavour. In the mouth is elegant, tasty and silky, with body Q.B. Final also very good. Another great edition of Quinta da Gaivosa. Made from grape vines over 80 years old, and at least 20 different autochthonous grape varieties. 15 months in new French oak barrels.

  • 17,5 Valores 90% 90%

5 – ABANDONADO 2013

  • Type: Red wine
  • Grape varieties: 25 different castes
  • Alcohol content: 14.5%
  • Price: 78 euros
  • Rating: 18

Balsamic flavour, much concentration in the mouth, very body, very tasty, very good!!! Perhaps the abandoned (of all editions) who, in young, is more ready to drink. And maybe also the most elegant of all time. 18 months in new French and Portuguese oak barrels. Vineyards with more than 85 years and 25 different castes; The soil is pedragoso, being very difficult to replant.

  • 18 Valores 90% 90%

6 – QUINTA DA GAIVOSA PORT WHITE 10 YEARS

  • Type: Fortified
  • Grape varieties: N/D
  • Alcohol content: 19.5%
  • Price: 20 euros (500ml)
  • Rating: 17

Some raisin and honey bud in the aroma. In the mouth a hint of bitter almond. It has some body and is not very sweet (ferments with the film and the brandy is added in the middle of the fermentation). A very nice wine. To accompany with numerous desserts or cheeses. Bottling 2017.

  • 17 Valores 90% 90%

7 – ALVES DE SOUSA VINTAGE 2015

  • Type: Fortified
  • Grape varieties:The varieties Touriga Nacional and Sousão predominate
  • Alcohol content: 19.5%
  • Price: 40 euros
  • Rating: 18

The flavour is not very exuberant. In the mouth is very good, drinks very well, despite the youth, very intense but very silky, and very greedy end. Tiago is very fond of this harvest of 2015, although he says he realizes why the year 2016 was considered a classic vintage year. In his opinion, this 2015 only is not, because they do not want to consider classic, 2 years in a row.

  • 18 Valores 90% 90%

8 – QUINTA DA GAIVOSA PORT 20 YEARS TAWNY

  • Type: Fortified
  • Grape varieties:N/D
  • Alcohol content: 19.5%
  • Price: 45 euros
  • Rating: 18,5

We couldn’t have finished this first part better. So, that was the only wine we were to repeat a little later at lunch at Chaxoila! A brutal and intensissimo Aroma of dry fruit with ioated notes. Very fresh, has body, taste irreproachable, and final with good acidity. Great complexity for a 20-year-old wine. From old vines in higher quotas. Bottling 2017.

  • 18,5 Valores 90% 90%

After this first part, we visited the store (where you can buyall these wines and some, at a slightly lower price), wedelight with the views of Quinta da Calçada, we talked a littlemore… And it’s time to give a little room to Vila Real. It’s justa little bit… And we’re already there!

The Chaxoila is a restoration icon in this area. It has theepithet of Casa de Pasto, and is open since 1947, alwaysserving good and genuine traditional food. The calf’s littlehand with grain is a libris!!! Not forgetting the goat… And therooster crests with tangerine ice cream for dessert!

Here are the wines tasted:

9 – VALE DA RAPOSA ROSÉ 2017

  • Type: Rosé
  • Grape varieties: Touriga Nacional e Tinta Roriz
  • Alcohol content: 13%
  • Price: 6 euros
  • Rating: 14,5

Unexpressive flavour. In the mouth is fresh and pleasant… andlittle more. Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz. Perhaps the leastinteresting wine we’ve tasted today.

  • 14,5 Valores 90% 90%

10 – WHITE WINE GAIVOSA GRANDE RESERVA 2015

  • Type: White wine
  • Grape varieties: Malvasia Fina e Gouveio (35% each other) e Arinto e Avesso (15% each other)
  • Alcohol content: 12,5%
  • Price: 20-22 euros
  • Rating: 16,5

The wood stands out. Balsamic Aromas. There’s not muchbody, it’s nice, and the end isn’t very “intense”.

  • 16,5 Valores 90% 90%

11 – VINHA DE LORDELO 2013

  • Type: Red wine
  • Grape varieties: Multiple castes
  • Alcohol content: 15%
  • Price: 60 euros
  • Rating: 17,5

From the oldest vineyard of Gaivosa, with multiple castes, andover 100 years. Intense wine in the mouth: fruit, intensity andelegance, all together… though with final not yet limated.

  • 17,5 Valores 90% 90%

12 – QUINTA DA GAIVOSA 2003

  • Type: Red wine
  • Grape varieties: Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão e Touriga Nacional
  • Alcohol content: 14,5%
  • Price: N/D
  • Rating: 18

A wine in perfect condition. Chocolaty Aroma. The wine is pudine, young (can still be saved longer), elegant, tasty, impressive. Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão and Touriga Nacional predominate. It is the first calçada with the hand of Tiago Alves de Sousa

  • 18 Valores 90% 90%

13 – QUINTA DA OLIVEIRINHA PORT VINTAGE 2016

  • Type: Fortified
  • Grape varieties: N/D
  • Alcohol content: 19,5%
  • Price: 40 euros
  • Rating: 17,5

This wine comes from a farm that Domingos Alves de Sousa acquired at Cima Corgo, on the north bank of the river, between Régua and Pinhão. Usually, the vintages of Quinta da Gaivosa are more elegant and those of Quinta da Oliveirinha appeal more to the concentration. The flavour is very interesting. In the mouth a lot of fruit intensity, but it is not no longer elegant. Vigorous in his youth gives, from now, immense pleasure to drink.

  • 17,5 Valores 90% 90%

FINAL NOTES: 

And we ended, as we said, with the repetition of the port 20 years. Superb!

We just have to thank the Familia Alves de Sousa The princely way we were greeted. Thank you very much!

Wine4People, 31 July 2018 

 

 

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