By Quinta do Covao
Red 2017

Wine Details
Origin: DOC Dao
Winemakers: Filipe Ferreira/Pedro Branco
Varieties: Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz

The Wine
Quinta do Covao Single Harvest is a rich and elegant Dao red wine of exceptional quality. Heir to ancient wisdom, Quinta do Covao combines experience with innovation to create very elegant wines with delicately intense flavors that reflect the unique personality of the region.

Tasting Notes
An intense red ruby color, this wine has notes of wild and black fruit, aromas of woodland fruits, and some resin with a finish that imparts a wonderful freshness to its bouquet. There are well-integrated notes of the wood in which the wine aged. On the palate, this wine is soft, elegant, and balanced. It has crisp acidity and understated tannins that give it both personality and strength. Well-balanced fruit and a soft, fresh menthol element again reveal themselves in a very harmonious finish that is long and persistent. This wine is a good example of a pure Dao.

Winemaking
The grapes were harvested by plot and grape variety and subject to rigorous selection procedures. After destemming and soft-crushing, the grapes were drained into small, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, vinified by grape variety. Alcoholic fermentation lasted around eight days at an average temperature of about 27 degrees C. The Touriga Nacional remained in post-fermentative maceration for a further ten days.

Maturation
This wine was aged in new French oak barrels for 12 months. The final blend was subject to numerous tests and analysis during this period, which helped identify the best wines of each grape variety. The wine underwent fining and filtration and was subsequently bottled without cold stabilization treatment; a natural deposit may therefore form in the bottle.

Store
Like all Dao red wines, this wine has an extended life in the bottle and will easily retain its quality for 10-15 years. The bottle should be stored horizontally in a cool, dry place.

Serve
Serve at between 16-18 degrees C. This wine should be decanted after 4-5 years of age. Once opened, consume the same day - although the wine should remain drinkable for some time if well stoppered, ideally with a vacuum seal.

Enjoy
This is a gastronomic wine, perfect for mealtimes. This wine pairs wonderfully with octopus "a lagareiro", as well as oven-roasted pork shoulder

Technical Details
Alcohol: 13.50%
Total Acidity: 5.30 g/L (tartaric acid)
Sugar: 0.70 g/L
pH: 3.70
[Information provided by DHI Selections]

Quinta do Covao 2017 Red (Dao)
Rating: 92
Special Designation: Best Buy
Variety: Portuguese Red
Appellation: Dao, Portugal
Winery: Quinta do Covao
Bottle Size: 750.00 ml
Category: Red
Importer: MHW, Ltd
Date Published: 5/1/2021
Reviewed by: Roger Voss
Vines close to Portugal's highest mountains yield a structured wine with strong, still youthful minerality. This dense wine with its tight acidity and still solid tannins is set for long-term aging. Give it until 2023 at least for the rich fruits to come to the fore.