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Vale de Pios, “As Tourigas”
An odd phenomenon in the wine world is how some simply smell expensive—I’m not talking “the bigger the better,” but rather wines that exude a sense of regality and refinement. Vale de Pios’ “As Tourigas” is one of the clearest examples you’ll find; if served in a blind tasting, it would be hard not to call this classy, big-ticket Bordeaux with a touch of age. This supremely limited bottling is the reason we continue sampling wines from all over the world: One sniff and you’ll be in triple-digit price tag territory, one taste will validate your prudent purchase. Even in 2003, while living deep in the Douro Valley and tasting a multitude of wines, not one was more spectacular than this.
Quinta de Vale de Pios’ sole reason for crafting this delicately perfumed and finessed red was to showcase the age-worthiness of Portuguese wines. Today’s special bottle was sourced from a tiny 1.5 hectare, old-vine parcel and after two years in barrel and eight years in their cellar, this 300-case production has finally been released to the public. Far less have made it to America. Unless fortuitously stumbling upon it in an esoteric restaurant or retail shop, there’s no sense in trying to find this rare bottle much anywhere else: This is your one chance to snag a beautiful, under-the-radar red that rivals elites all over the world. And, at six bottles per person today, you have an extraordinary opportunity to load up your cellar for wonderful experiences years, even decades, down the road.
Quinta de Vale de Pios’ sole reason for crafting this delicately perfumed and finessed red was to showcase the age-worthiness of Portuguese wines. Today’s special bottle was sourced from a tiny 1.5 hectare, old-vine parcel and after two years in barrel and eight years in their cellar, this 300-case production has finally been released to the public. Far less have made it to America. Unless fortuitously stumbling upon it in an esoteric restaurant or retail shop, there’s no sense in trying to find this rare bottle much anywhere else: This is your one chance to snag a beautiful, under-the-radar red that rivals elites all over the world. And, at six bottles per person today, you have an extraordinary opportunity to load up your cellar for wonderful experiences years, even decades, down the road.
Portugal’s Douro Valley is one of the most breathtaking and treacherously steep winegrowing regions on Earth. If you’ve ever visited the legendary hillside vineyards of Cornas or Côte-Rôtie in France’s northern Rhône valley, trust me that the Douro humbles them with its gravity defying grades and immense scale. It is here that Port is made; a wine everyone knows, if not especially well: Northern Portugal’s mountainous Douro River region was the world’s first “officially delimited” wine-production zone, and its signature product—sweet, fortified red wine originally crafted to withstand the rigors of overseas shipping—is capable of aging for many decades. But many of us forget, or simply don’t know, that the unfortified reds here are just as cellar-worthy—again, Vale de Pios patiently raised today’s bottle for 10 years to prove that claim.
Quinta de Vale de Pios was founded in a genuine ‘down-to-earth’ fashion: Rather than form a winery and then figure out where to source their grapes, they spent years studying geological maps and hitting dusty, dirt roads in order to locate the best terroir. They landed on a sprawling, forested property filled with century-old olive trees, fauna, and flora. After purchasing the land, they went to work on cultivating vineyards in a natural manner. Only a couple of wines are made at Vale de Pios and today’s special bottle is their way of saying Portugal has wines that can age with the best of them. For this bottle, a 1.5 hectare parcel with vines no younger than 40 years old was selected from their property. “As Tourigas,” or “the Tourigas” refers to the grapes in this wine: Equal parts Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca aka Touriga Francesa (two prominent varieties found in Port) were dry farmed and hand harvested before resting in traditional lagars—large, open-top fermentation troughs that are typically food-trodden (a tradition made famous by Port houses). The weekslong, native yeast fermentation then finished in stainless steel vats before aging in 67% new French oak for two years. After a light filtering, the bottles were moved to Vale de Pios’ stone cellars for eight additional years until its public debut earlier this year.
“As Tourigas” reveals a brilliant dark crimson and is completely opaque at its core. Flashes of garnet and bright ruby populate the rim along with tiny, fine-grained particles. The nose is gorgeously high-toned, and with the cooler vintage of 2007, wonderful floral, rustic, and savory aromatics burst out of the glass. Violets, damp rose petals, garrigue, redcurrant, raspberry blossoms, tobacco leaf, black cherries, leather, iron, exotic spices, cedar shavings, and crushed stones unfold and increase in intensity as minutes pass by. Touriga Nacional lends the fruit, fragrance, and finesse, while Touriga Franca provides the rich density and firm backbone of the wine. Together, they create a harmoniously blended red that echoes the elegance and complexity of Bordeaux’s elites. The palate shows a medium-plus body with bright fruits and an enriching mix of rusticity and crushed earth, as well as an intoxicating marriage of savor and delicate spice. Though this was held back 10 years to illustrate the longevity of Portuguese wines, “As Touriga” easily has another decade, even two left in its tank. It’s that remarkable—all for under $50. If consuming in the next few years, decant for one hour and serve in your largest Bordeaux stems with a traditional Portuguese dish: beef trinchado. Cheers!
