Robert Parker ocenil nová vína od Van Zellera

Robert Parker awards 95 points and 93 points to our 2008 Douro reds!

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Quinta Vale D. Maria

Robert Parker awarded 95 points to CV – Curriculum Vitae 2008 Douro red! This is the highest score for all Portuguese wines for the 2008 harvest on Robert Parker’s list.
Quinta Vale D. Maria 2008 Douro red featured also on the top of the list with 93 points.
Below are the notes from RP’s wine critic for Portuguese wines, Mark Squires on CV – Curriculum Vitae:
“The 2008 CV is one of this winery’s prestige offerings, not cheap and in short supply usually, which is one reason for the price spike. It is usually one of my favorites, although not always the right bang-for-the-buck choice from Cristiano van Zeller’s team. This year’s version is potentially brilliant, not quite as rich and sexy as the ’07, but perhaps better structured and more ageworthy. I loved the integration of its parts, the steel underlying the velvet, the ripe, full fruit and the balance. It is rich enough –while remaining elegant in the mid-palate, hardly jammy–so that you don’t at first notice the tannic hit and its bright demeanor. Indeed, it is bright and fresh, not even close to jammy. Make no mistake, too, despite the initial hit of fruit—this has a very serious backbone. As always with wines from this vintage, the ultimate proof may really be a decade or so down the road, when I would expect this old vines bottling to show more complexity and elegance as well, but this is an early wine-of-the-vintage candidate. It drank brilliantly the next day, too, still tight and still evolving. If the price tag is a little too rich for your blood, Cristiano’s ’08 Vale D. Maria is a lot cheaper and awfully fine as well. Drink 2013-2030.”
And for Quinta Vale D. Maria Mark Squires wrote:
“The 2008 TINTO (QUINTA VALE D. MARIA), a Douro blend, is quite a mouthful. Full and mouthcoating, this powerful wine is a worthy successor to the ’07, bursting with what I call “controlled flavor”—meaning, it is neither candied nor cloying and very much seems like real wine with some character. It still makes you say “this is delicious!” The underlying power lurking here is formidable. The longer it was open, the more powerful it became and it seems like a Vale D. Maria built for the long haul. I imagine debates on the ’07 vs. ’08 will go on for some time and the answer probably will not come until they are both a decade or so down the road. It drank beautifully, and perhaps better, the next day after refrigeration overnight, showing much better balance, and a little more character (although it did not drink as well on Day 2 as its sibling, the CV, reviewed this issue). Although it may be approachable earlier, I’d say it will not likely round into form until about 2014-2015. Drink-2013-2027.”