Casa Ferreirinha Vinha Grande Red 2021

Description

The 2017 Vinha Grande is a 45/30/20 blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, plus a dollop of Tinta Barroca, aged for 12 months in used French oak. It comes in at 14% alcohol. Showing more intensity of fruit than the 2016 (but perhaps less freshness), this seems understated, but it has fine concentration of fruit. In fact, the flavor on this is rather sensational in its youth. It doesn’t seem jammy actually, but the fruit still seems to be rich, at least in its youth. Sexy and delicious, this won’t win many plaudits for structure, but I predict the bottle will drain quickly at the table. It will be interesting to see if it holds form over several years—it doesn’t seem to have the lift of the 2016 and at times seems a bit one-dimensional—but I suspect for most it won’t last long enough to find out. Wine Advocate 88 (2017)