Quinta de Chocapalha CH Touriga Nacional 2017
-
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Deeply expressive, CH by Chocapalha displays bold, dark fruit aromas on the nose with subtle nuances of leather and violet. The structured palate is supported by firm tannins and enticing flavors of black currant and raspberry followed by a remarkable finish.
Pair this wine with slow roasted brisket or braised lamb shanks.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 CH is a Touriga Nacional aged for 22 months in 70% new French barriques. It comes in at 14% alcohol. If the 2016 reds from the winery this issue are unevolved, you can bet this 2017 is as well. Yet, while this is unevolved, it is arguably more elegant and fresher than the dense 2016s even now, far more graceful. The fruit is sappy and the oak is obvious up front in its youth, but this will ultimately have finesse as a hallmark. I kept this open for an extra two hours, which made it blossom a bit, but it was still relatively unevolved. The tannins are not hard, but this is still tight. Yet even now, it is also bursting with flavor and is very aromatic. In a year or three, this may well make its case better. It should improve notably and come together.
Other Vintages
2019-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine
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.