2021 Quinta do Vale Meão Monte Meão Vinha da Cantina

In the eastern part of the Douro, near the Spanish border, we find Quinta do Vale Meão, birthplace of Barca Velha, the most famous and highly praised Douro. The quinta is owned by Francisco Javier de Olazabal, the great-great-grandson of Dona Antonia Ferreira who bought the quinta in 1877. The former director of the port house Ferreira started making wine from this exceptional terroir. Their first wine, Meao 1999, was immediately declared the best Portuguese wine of 1999. It is the most famous quinta in Portugal and is also part of the famous Douro Boys. All the wines they now make guarantee an authentic experience of the Douro wines, of course made from the typical Portuguese grape varieties from the Douro region. Quinta do Vale Meão is one of the top in Portugal and you can taste why that is so!

In addition to the well-known Quinta do Vale Meão Tinto, a number of other very special wines are made at Vale Meão, often in very small quantities. These are wines from vineyards on granite soil, which mature in barrels a little longer than the other wines from the quinta - the so-called Monrte Meāo wines. These special wines also have a different grape composition.

The Monte Meão Vinha da Cantinha is a 100% Baga and, after a maceration in open barrels of around 12 days, it has matured for 16 months in used French oak and has an alcohol content of 12%. The small old Baga vineyard is located on a slate plateau opposite the Bodega Quinta do Vale Meão.

In the glass, the Monte Meão Vinha da Cantinha is dark red in color. Deep and complex with intense aromas of dark fruit, violet, chocolate and licorice, layered, without one aroma overlapping the other. Very elegant on the palate with excellent integration of wood. You will be surprised by the wide variety of flavors and a very long aftertaste. This is a wine that you have to give time. The Baga is a tannic grape that blends beautifully with the acids over time, so the advice is to decant it in its early years, but ideally just put it away for about 10 years and then enjoy it.