Doda and Dado - vertical tasting of these top Portuguese wines

Doda/Dado vertical tasting: Dão meets the Douro
A chance to taste all the vintages of this collaborative project between Dirk Niepoort and Alvaro Castro

One of Portugal’s most interesting wines is actually a multi-region blend. Doda (from 2000–2004 know as Dado, but forced to rename itself for legal reasons) is a collaboration between Dirk Niepoort and Alvaro Castro, two of Portugal’s great winemakers.

50% of it comes from Niepoort in the Douro (it’s a similar blend to Redoma), and 50% from Castro in the Dão. It continues a historical tradition of multi-region blending in Portugal: many of the great old table wines were Barraida/Dão blends.

This was a great opportunity to try all the vintages to date, with both Dirk and Alvaro at Alvaro’s restored Quinta de Pellada in the Dão. These are really super wines, showing precision and finesse, and they’re among my favourite offerings from Portugal. They knock on the head the idea that the best wines are always from single vineyards.

THE WINES

Dado 2000
The first vintage. Refined with some earthy evolution. Spice and plums, with good structure. Fine grained with hints of earthiness – a stylish wine. 90/100

Dado 2003
Lovely perfume here: aromatic with bright cherry and violet notes. Fine, elegant and expressive. The palate has subtle meaty notes and some spices, along with elegant cherry fruit. Ripe and expressive. 93/100

Dado 2001
Warm, spicy and aromatic with subtle meaty notes Fine, with nice warmth and elegance. Fine, spicy, elegant palate with precision and some earthy notes. Fresh, mineral and profound. 93/100

Dado 2004
Beautiful perfume here: taut, aromatic and fine with notes of black cherry and meat. Elegant. The palate is fresh and expressive with lovely elegance and purity. Great acidity here. Fresh, concentrated and fine, like an elegant Côte Rôtie in style. 95/100

Doda 2005
Fine, fresh, pure liqueur-like fruit on the nose, showing an elegantly sappy edge. Lively, fine and expressive. Taut, expressive palate has good structure and acidity with lovely dark cherry fruit and thrilling purity. 95/100

Doda 2007
Very fine and pure with elegant aromatic black cherry fruit. Lovely structure and acidity with firmness and some grip; it’s youthful, with fresh, bright, sweet black cherry fruit. 94/100

Doda 2008
Fine and pure with lovely freshness. Meaty, spicy, pure black cherry fruit. Lovely. Dense, firm and expressive with lovely purity and structure. So refined with lovely precision. Great wine. 95/100