Aveleda Follies Touriga Nacional 2015
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Robert
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#11 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Best Buys of 2018
A maroon, deep ruby color, revealing an intense aroma complemented by scents of berry, oak and vanilla. The mouth shows a well balanced body, with supple tannins resulting in an elegant whole.
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Wine Enthusiast
From the Quinta da Aguieira, this serious, concentrated wine has the violet perfume typical of Touriga Nacional. It is a rich, dense and tannic wine, full of black fruit, dark chocolate and bright acidity. Drink this wine from late 2018. Best Buy
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Touriga Nacional Follies was aged for 12 months in French oak of varying ages, one-third new, and comes in at 13% alcohol. This was sourced from vines at Quinta da Aguieira that range from 15 to 40 years in age (with an average age of 25 years). Showing fine concentration for this level, this still has reasonable freshness, a bright feel and lifted fruit. There's a respectably long finish to go with a hint of tartness after it airs out. On the one hand, there's that hit of acidity, but on opening, it seems lush and laced with blue fruits, plus vanilla from oak. It seems to belong to a pricier class of wine. Beautifully structured as well—it is still a bit tight—and a perfect food wine, this is a super bargain. It can continue aging for the next decade or so, but eventually the limitations of its mid-palate might catch up to it. With an hour of air, it drinks pretty well now. It might be better next year. It's still on the upswing. There were 13,200 bottles produced.
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Wine &
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Today the Guedes family still owns 100% of the company, always committed to maintaining this family legacy which spans several generations. The son of Manuel Pedro Guedes, Fernando Guedes da Silva da Fonseca (1871-1946) continued his father’s work, significantly increasing the production capacity at the Estate. He had 7 children and it was Roberto Van-Zeller Guedes (1899-1966) who led the family business, dedicating his whole life to working at Aveleda. The 4th generation includes the six children of Roberto Van-Zeller Guedes: Fernando, Luís, António, Maria Isabel, Maria Helena and Roberto – who today manage the company’s future, together with the following generation: 14 cousins who make up the 5th generation.
Gaining great popularity for its bold but beautifully aromatic dry red wines, Touriga Nacional is the noblest variety in Port wine. Most likely originating from the Dão region, today it grows throughout the Douro Valley as well. Somm Secret—As many as 80 grape varieties can be used to make Port wine, each contributing something unique to the resulting blend. Touriga Nacional adds great color, tannins and aromatics.
Best known for intense, impressive and age-worthy fortified wines, Portugal relies almost exclusively on its many indigenous grape varieties. Bordering Spain to its north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean on its west and south coasts, this is a land where tradition reigns supreme, due to its relative geographical and, for much of the 20th century, political isolation. A long and narrow but small country, Portugal claims considerable diversity in climate and wine styles, with milder weather in the north and significantly more rainfall near the coast.
While Port (named after its city of Oporto on the Atlantic Coast at the end of the Douro Valley), made Portugal famous, Portugal is also an excellent source of dry red and white Portuguese wines of various styles.
The Douro Valley produces full-bodied and concentrated dry red Portuguese wines made from the same set of grape varieties used for Port, which include Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (Spain’s Tempranillo), Touriga Franca, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão, among a long list of others in minor proportions.
Other dry Portuguese wines include the tart, slightly effervescent Vinho Verde white wine, made in the north, and the bright, elegant reds and whites of the Dão as well as the bold, and fruit-driven reds and whites of the southern, Alentejo.
The nation’s other important fortified wine, Madeira, is produced on the eponymous island off the North African coast.