Wine & Soul Pintas 2014
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Wine & Spirits
Sandra Tavares and Jorge Serodio Borges, two oenologists with a pointer named Pintas, make this wine from an 85-year-old mixed planting in the Vale Mendiz, the heart of the Douro Valley. This vintage is less ripe than other recent releases, allowing the gracious complexity of the old vines to show all their detail. The flavor has intensity without any excess weight; powerful, but with an underlying delicacy, the layered flavors of schist and fruit lasting with elegance. Tavares explained that "2014 was a very fresh year with cool nights. We have a lot of rufete and bastardinho that gives similar flavors [as tinta francisca]; in some warmer vintages, as they are more sensitive, we reject some of these grapes...but in 2014 they were perfect."
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine with great potential is produced by the husband-and-wife team of Jorge Serôdio Borges and Sandra Tavares da Silva. it is structured, although the fruit is already rich enough to indicate its ripe character. Drink this smoky, wood-aged wine from 2020.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Pintas is a field blend sourced from old vines (84 years) and aged for 20 months in French oak (30% new and 70% second-year wood). Like so many 2014s, this is a little stern and dry, a little lacking in expression. That said, it is beautifully built and often gorgeous. It shows fine concentration for the vintage, focus and precision. The texture is pure velvet. The finish lingers. Tightly wound, it is nonetheless approachable, although a year or two in the cellar wouldn't hurt. Not quite as sunny and as expressive as the Manoella, this dense Tinto is more closed, drier and a bit sterner. At first, weighing pros and cons, I couldn't decide whether this or the Manoella Old Vines was a better achievement this year. Neither may be completely representative of the properties in the very best years, but they both are very good off-vintage performances, a tribute to the winemaking skill. I'd tend to pick this. Its mouth-filling demeanor is impressive at the moment, as is its structure. It simply grips the palate. As with the Manoella, the remaining question will be whether this develops and improves with time, or begins to lose focus. I do have some doubts there. It certainly seems likely to be early-maturing. This still looks like one of the best bets for an upper-level 2014 red. After a couple of hours open, it was still impressive, if more elegant. We'll see what the future has to say when it gets here, but this has some upside potential.
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Wine Spectator
A focused but elegant red, with currant, blackberry and underbrush notes supported by moderate, chewy tannins. Bay leaf, smoke and slate elements linger on the finish. Needs cellaring to unwind. Best after 2018.
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Located in the heart of the Douro Valley, Portugal’s best-known wine region, Wine & Soul spans several picturesque vineyards. This innovative yet rustic winery was founded nearly 10 years ago by Jorge Serôdio Borges and his wife Sandra Tavares da Silva, both of whom wished to channel their extensive experience into a winery that would showcase the traditional varieties and terroir of the Douro Valley on an international level. Initially, Wine & Soul consisted of a lone vineyard, Pintas, located in the Cima Corgo's prized Pinhão Valley. Throughout the years, it expanded to include additional properties, such as the magnificent Quinta da Manoella. Parcels of 80-year-old vines are tucked into terraces carved out by dynamite a century ago. Walls built from the displaced schist border the vines, preventing erosion and enhancing the idyllic landscape. Wine & Soul has received considerable critical praise for its character-driven wines, all of which represent the exceptional terroir of the Douro region. Natural farming is prioritized, and no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides are used. Irrigation is minimal and performed only by hand, and indigenous yeasts are used for almost all fermentation. Organic certification by Sativa is pending. Due to the steep grade of the slopes and the narrow width of the terraces, all grapes must be picked by hand. The fruit is foot-trodden in granite lagares, which yields fine, silky tannins since the process is so gentle on the grapes. The wines are all aged in French barriques.
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.