Region: Portugal, Douro

Grape variety: Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and others

Background: The 2004 “Batuta” (Batuta means “conductor’s baton” in Portuguese) is aged for 20 months in French oak, and sourced from very old vines. The principal source of grapes is Quinta do Carril, a 70-year-old vineyard. In addition, grapes are sourced from older vines exceeding one hundred years in age. The first vintage of this bottling was 1999.

Tasting notes: Dark intense colour and aroma with great complexity, with concentrated black fruit, spicy intense notes of black and green pepper, and elegant balsamic notes along with tobacco and earthy aromas; ending with coffee, moka and toasty aromas. Wide palate, very precise and tight, with fruitiness and impressive mineralty. Fine and seductive tannic structure linked to long persistence ending. Certainly a wine for the next decades.