Jamie Goode
Jamie Goode
Wine Anorak
November 2010 – 93 Points
"Rich, spicy, cedary and warm with dense blackberry and dark cherry fruit. Bold, concentrated and well balanced, with some nice floral violet notes as well as the richer, spicy, woody characters. Firm tannins, too. Very appealing."
Notes on the year
The 2008 winter was drier and colder than normal with only 258mm of rain falling at Pinhão between November and March. Fortunately, a wet April ensured the ground water reserves were sufficiently replenished. Flowering occurred under wet and cold conditions and as a result poor set affected all grape varieties, resulting in lower yields, but with great concentration of flavour.
The temperatures for the 2008 growing season were remarkably similar to 2007, with lower than average temperatures and a mild August. The final ripening of the grapes was greatly enhanced with rain falling between the 4th and 7th September and a further downpour just before the vintage started. Picking started on 25th September at Quinta do Panascal and on the 26th September in the Pinhão Valley.
A key characteristic of the entire vintage were the hot days combined with cold nights giving perfect weather conditions not only for the final ripening of the grapes, but also for the fermentation rates. This provided wonderful freshness of fruit, complexity and great structure.
