Pena de Pato (Portugal) Dao Tinto 2005
I tasted this wine in Portugal last year, when I visited the giant SOGRAPE group, the people behind this and other well-known Portuguese labels such as Sandeman and Quinta de Azevedo. The wine has now arrived in this country. A typically robust Dao blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Alfrocheiro Preto, only a small proportion is matured in oak, so the nose retains plenty of bright, chunky, raspberry and cherry fruit with a suggestion of something intriguingly aromatic: spices or herbs. On the palate it is medium-bodied and smooth-textured, with copious black cherry fruit flooding the mouth. Acidity is good, and the tannins are creamy and quite refined for such a chunky, direct wine. Lovely stuff and persistent on the finish. 6.99, Waitrose and Majestic.
