Quinta do Vale Meão 2017

The 2017 Tinto is a mostly a 50/40 blend of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, with Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca filling out the blend, all aged for 16 months in 50% new French oak. It comes in at 14% alcohol. This was set for bottling in a couple of weeks, but it was the final blend and out of barrels. It seems brilliant, a potentially great estate red. Xito Olazabal said it was one of the freshest he has ever made. That leads to a crisp and aromatic red with very flavorful fruit. It is remarkably pure too, the oak hardly noticeable for the most part. Consistent with the style, it shows its typically gorgeous mid-palate finesse—it's silky and sensual with a Burgundian feel. As accessible as it now seems, it will close a bit and it should get at least a couple of years of cellaring. It will then age very well. We'll see where this goes in time, but it looks like a big winner so far. This will be released late in 2019 in the USA..- Mark Squires