2016 Quinta da Leda
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Tasting notes
50% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 15% Tinto Cão, 10% Tinta Roriz. The 2016 vintage began with a mild and dry winter. A cool and rainy spring contributed to some issues with flowering and fruit set and resulted in lower yields. However, a mild summer with cool nights rescued the vintage and allowed for well-paced slow ripening. TA 5.3 g/l, RS 0.8 g/l, pH 3.6. Deep purplish crimson, with purple rim. Intense, pure, peppery and spiced black fruit. Again more cassis than damson or plum. There’s more of Touriga Nacional’s floral character too – some violet notes – even though the percentage is not that high this year. A light herbal note promising freshness. Fabulously pure and dark-fruited scent as it opens. A little oaky on the palate at this young stage but marked freshness from start to finish, highlighting the fruit purity. Firm, chewy but smoothed tannins, polished. Long, too. Fresh and elegant. The structure is refined, the finish fresh and long. Real tension here. GV (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
50% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 15% Tinto Cão, 10% Tinta Roriz on schist soils in the Douro Superior. Fermented in tank and lagar and aged 18 months in French oak, of which 50% was new. Deep, dark crimson with bright, still-youthful violet rim. Intense and lightly spiced fruit, both red and black, along with sweet oak spice. Ripe and sweet-fruited on the palate, though better balanced that the Callabriga 2017 just tasted. The tannins are supple but still have a vestige of the Douro's rocky character in their lightly dry texture. More savoury on the palate, with a touch of black olive but the fruit is still the lead player here. Rich and packed with fruit. Just fresh enough for harmony but not exactly refreshing. The oak is quite obvious at the moment. I'd wait another year unless you prefer the primacy of fruit. (JH)
The 2016 Quinta da Leda is a blend of 50% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional and 15% Tinto Cão and 10% Tinta Roriz, aged for 18 months in an equal mixture of new and used French oak. It comes in at 13.5% alcohol. One of the prestige wines here, this rarely has the power of, say, Reserva Especial, but its elegance often makes it as much or more appealing, if not as attention getting. For instance, I'd take the 2009 Leda over the muscular Reserva Especial in that vintage. In any event, this is a particularly fresh version, sunny and lifted with a fine finish. This can be profitably drunk now, but it won't hurt if you can give it a couple of years to come around, pull in just a bit of wood and show some complexity. I think this is a step behind some recent vintages, but it's still early and this will have more time to develop. It is certainly very good, no matter what. There were 5,250 cases produced.
About the producer
Product details
Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca/Touriga Francesa, Tinta Barroca, Tempranillo, Other
Red
Dry