jamie goode's wine blog: A really good, affordable Douro red

Monday, December 10, 2007

A really good, affordable Douro red


Respected Port house Quinta do Noval came relatively late to the Douro table wine revolution, but they arrived with a splash when they released their inaugural 2004 wines last year (see my earlier report here). Tonight I revisted one of these wines: the 2004 Cedro do Noval. It's just a really good wine, and if the Douro can make more wines of this sort of quality at this sort of price (retail = £10), then its future as one of the world's great wine-growing districts is assured. It tastes of the Douro, I reckon - although it's clearly an impossible (an undesirable) task imposing a single Douro style on all of its red wines.

Cedro do Noval 2004 Douro, Portugal
This Douro table wine is one of the best-value examples of this genre around, and I reckon it can compete effectively with many of its more expensive peers. The nose is complex with dark cherry fruit and some spicy, minerally depth. It’s ripe and sweet, but savoury and balanced at the same time. The palate has some savoury tannic structure, some ripe cherry fruit and a pleasant plummy bitterness. Good acidity keeps it fresh. An appealing, dense, savoury wine that displays some warm-climate ripeness allied with old-world savouriness. 91/100 (c. £10 retail)

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4 Comments:

At 7:43 AM, Blogger gopaz said...

Jamie,

Thanks for the information! Although we are huge fans of this particular Quinta, I've never tried the 2004 Cedro do Noval, but I will now keep my eyes peeled for it.

 
At 5:40 PM, Anonymous Martin Moran said...

Hi Jamie,

No comment on the wine, but I did want to remind you that Spurs' victory on Sunday was their 7th in a row in the league against Man City! Sadly I thik City will still finish above spurs and you'll probably win the Carling (or not very serious beer)Cup game next week but the points from a City visit are always welcome..

 
At 7:34 PM, Anonymous Adam F said...

Cracking value isn't it and I know what you mean about tasting likes its from the Douro.

 
At 2:26 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Martin, hard to know where to start. On my last visit to the Lane we were losing 3-0 at half time and were down to 10. We ended up winning 4-3. But since then it's been a bad run. This time, I gather one of the Spurs goals was rather dubious. But, as Sven says, there's no point making a fuss - the officials are trying to do a good job, and are not biased, and we might get a decision like that in our favour in the next game.

adam, yes, it has a sense of Douro to it.

Gopaz, it is worth looking for.

 

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