Pegos Claros Grande Escolha Vinhas Velhas Castelão 2015

Description

The 2015 Grande Escolha Pegos Claros Vinhas Velhas is a Castelão from near-centenarian vines aged for 12 months in a mixture of new and second use French oak. It comes in at 14% alcohol. Suave and elegant relative to the grape, this focused Castelão has good mid-palate finesse and velvety texture. It also has some of that Castelão exuberance in flavor, showing dried cherries mingled with poached strawberries. It is the type of profile that reminds me vaguely of Grenache. It takes awhile for the backbone to appear, but there is one - although the tannins are rather ripe. These, as a rule, can age, but I do wonder if this will truly reward you if you age it for a couple of decades, which is what I'd normally say on a wine like this. One decade will be easy, but we'll see where it goes thereafter. No matter that answer, there's a lot going on here. This distinctive wine can be approached now, but it will show more complexity in a few years. Drink date: 2019-2035. Score - 93. (Mark Squires, robertparker.com, Dec. 28, 2018)

Tags

Castelão, Full-bodied & Smooth, Red Wine, Wine, XD - Extra Dry