When it comes to Dão, a reliable guarantee of quality is anything made by Álvaro Castro, the winemaker who owns and operates both Quinta da Pellada and Quinta de Sães. His portfolio includes some of the best known premium wines from the region including Pape red and Primus white, but covers all price ranges.
A recent addition from Quinta da Pellada is this Pinot Noir, a premium wine that is part of a collection of three reds, all from their best quality grapes with minimum intervention. For example, there was no mechanical pumping involved and only natural yeast was used. The Pinot is from the 2016 vintage and was only released after a few years of bottle ageing following time in the barrel.
Priced at €49.95, this is certainly not an everyday wine but it is one of the best Portuguese Pinot Noir’s I have tried and a wine that compares favourably to similarly priced Burgundy. It is also a wine that will benefit from many more years of bottle ageing. But it is already drinking very well and is a perfect wine to pair with roast turkey if your Xmas wine budget can stretch this far and would make a lovely gift for any Pinot Noir lover.
This is an elegant and very well balanced wine, medium bodied with trademark Pinot notes of cherries and leather on the nose and a lovely freshness in the mouth.
