Pintas 2019

“The 2019 Pintas is a field blend (over 40 grapes, but the dominant grapes are Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional) from old vines (around 90 years) aged for 20 months in 20% new French oak. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. What can you say about Pintas in all its glory? Big and expressive fruit is the first thing you'll take note of. Yet the second thing changes the opinion on and character of this wine. It's not even close to a fruit bomb. Its structure controls it, making it fresh, precise and lively, never jammy and ponderous. Then, it shows off some serious power. The winery's style generally eschews astringency (except at times on the Port), but there's certainly a fair bit of power on that finish. This is built to age and develop. It's delicious but not one-dimensional. It isn't even close to showing everything it has just now. While not completely unapproachable, it will show a lot better in a few years. It may not hit peak for 10. There were 5,900 bottles produced, plus some other size formats.”