In today’s Journal, I’ll be describing the amazing abandoned vineyard – Abandonado – owned by Alves de Sousa, part of their Gaivosa estate. This, spectacularly beautiful, but stubborn patch of schist with its scrubby vines, an almost wild mix of varieties, makes, I think, the best red table wine in the Douro.
The first wine from the vineyard to be bottled as an expression of the site alone is from the 2004 harvest. Tasted in summer 2011 it was still deep and young. It had an exciting aroma of berry fruits and creamy oak, but the fruit dominated. Rich and balanced it showed fine-grained tannins, great concentration and a long, liquorice finish. It was aged in all new oak for 12 months, some Portuguese, some American and some French.
2005 was fresher and more minty and also more elegant, with a deep depth of ripe black fruits, especially black cherry. It had lots of structure and was a bit closed. Tiago Alves de Sousa said that it needed a little longer in oak – around 15 months.
2007, according to Tiago is half-way between 2004 and 2005 in style. I found it big and black with very minty eucalyptus overtones and fresh fruit flavours. Deep, rich and chunky it had higher acidity than teh previous wines and was more mineral.
No Abanadonado was made in 2006 or 2008. The 2009 promises to be sublime. These wines are hard to find and aren’t cheap, but if you do get a chance to try them, grab it!
