Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 81


Blandy's

Francisco Albuquerque
& Chris Blandy
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxxx

P ORTUGAL
XXXXXXXX
P ORTO

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

P ORTUGAL
XXXXXXXX
M ADEIRA

Adriano Ramos Pinto
Founded: 1811
Winemaker:
Francisco Albuquerque
Founded:
XXXX
Viticulturist:
Goncalo Tito Caldeira
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Owner:
Chris
Blandy
XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX
Acres
owned:
Acres owned: 20
XXX
Annualproduced:
production:
40,000 cases
Cases
XXXXXX
Estate
Estate grown:
grown: 20%
100%
Importer:
PortXxxxx,
Wines,XX
Importer: Premium
Xxxxx Xxxxx,
San
Francisco,
CA
Website: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Website: blandys.com

Madeira holds a special fascination for sommeliers, who pack in around our
tasting table to assess the intense sweet-sour balance and complex, nutty flavors that develop during long aging in casks warmed by the island's subtropical climate. This year, the outcome of our tastings was nothing short of remarkable for Blandy's, with 11 wines garnering 90 or more points.
Two Centuries: Madeira seems an unlikely place for viticulture, its volcanic slopes rising out of the Atlantic more than 600 miles from Portugal's coast, and its subtropical climate making elevation the only
way to cultivate grapes. Its strategic position along shipping routes
attracted trading families like the Blandys, whose roots on the island
date back to 1808. Seventh-generation Chris Blandy is the company's
current CEO and oversees the firm's two facilities on the island-one
in the eastern town of Caniçal for vinification and cooperage activities, and the Blandy's Wine Lodge in Funchal, where wines age.
Rare Treasures: Francisco Albuquerque has made wine at Blandy's
for more than a quarter century, yet even that isn't long enough for
him to have witnessed the harvest for the firm's epic 1977 Terrantez.
Once widely grown on the island, terrantez nearly disappeared after
the phylloxera blight in the 19th century, dwindling to
just five acres of vines. One taste of the 1977 will show
why the Blandy family has been persuading growers to
resuscitate the variety. The wine is as riveting for the sensation it creates on the palate as for its sweep of flavors,
from chalk to orange rind and butterscotch, lasting on
fresh, nutty savor. The firm's other top wines deliver
fascinating flavors as well, the 1975 Sercial austerely
refreshing in its notes of cumin and curry, green
apple skin and dates, while the 1979 Verdelho offers
a luscious interplay of fruit and tannins that narrows
into a long, nutty finish.
Young and Available: The younger, more affordable
bottlings from Blandy's are worth seeking out as
well-like the rich and toasty 1990 Malmsey Single
Harvest (93 points, $48), or the Alvada 5 Years Old
Rich (90 points, $20), a fresh and bright blend with
subtle notes of nuts, tangerines and honey. -S.J.

TOP-SCORING WINES

Xxxxxxx
Ana Rosas
Xxxxxx

Founded: 1880
Winemakers:
Founded: XXXXAna Rosas (Port);
Teresa
Ameztoy (Douro wine)
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Viticulturist:
Carlos Peixoto
XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX
Owner:
Champagne
Acres owned: XXX Louis Roederer
Acres
976;XXXXXX
593 planted
Casesowned:
produced:
Annual
Estate production:
grown: 100%83,000 cases of
Port;
62,000Xxxxx
of Douro
Importer:
Xxxxx,wine
Xxxxx, XX
Estate
grown:
Port,
80%; Douro, 70%
Website: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Importer: Maisons Marques &
Domaines, Oakland, CA
Website: ramospinto.pt

Elegant Tawny Ports along with equally harmonious and gentle Douro reds
earned Ramos Pinto Top 100 honors on the eve of João Nicolau de Almeida's
retirement.
Early Education: João Nicolau de Almeida grew up in the Douro, helping his father with early table wine experiments for Barca Velha
before heading off to study at the University of Bordeaux. Fresh
out of school, he joined his uncle's company, Ramos Pinto, in 1976,
where he began to investigate which vines to plant at the firm's new
quinta in the Douro Superior, Ervamoira. Those vines-local varieties such as touriga nacional, tinta roriz and tinta cão-are responsible today for Ramos Pinto's 10-Year-Old Tawny, a sleek and elegant
Porto that carries a hint of schisty tannins, notes of fresh orange and
green fig, and a bright glaze of sweetness to enhance its complexity.
Mature Pleasures: Nicolau de Almeida blends his 20-Year-Old Tawny
from Bom Retiro, a quinta Ramos Pinto acquired in 1919. Located on
the south bank of the Douro, across the river from Pinhão, the oldvine fruit makes a Tawny that's richer than the Ervamoira, focused
on the textural pleasures of fully evolved fruit and tannins.
He adds another ten years of age and blends in wines
from other vineyards to achieve the 30-Year-Old Tawny, a
fragrant, silky wine that was one of the most deeply satisfying Ports we tasted this year.
New Directions: When Champagne Louis Roederer purchased the company in 1990, then CEO Jean-Claude
Rouzaud challenged Nicolau de Almeida to develop a
Douro table wine. The template he created for Duas
Quintas followed a similar pattern to his father's
Barca Velha: fruit from two contrasting vineyards,
in this case the riverside Ervamoira and the higher
elevation Bons Ares. Teresa Ameztoy, who joined
Ramos Pinto in 2005, oversees Duas Quintas today;
she blended the figgy ripeness of fruit from Ervamoira with the fresher plummy balance of grapes
from the cool elevations of Bons Ares in a luscious
2013 Reserva, a wine with the elegance and reserve
that marks the style of Ramos Pinto. -J.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES

97
Medium
$225 (2/16)
XX '77
'XX Madeira
XxxxxxxxTerrantez
Xxxxxxx Xxxxx
$XXRich
(XX/XX)

XX Porto
95
'XX Xxxxxxxx
30 YearsXxxxxxx
Tawny $107
Xxxxx(12/15)
$XX (XX/XX)

95
Dry
$205$XX
(2/16)
XX '75
'XX Madeira
XxxxxxxxSercial
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx
(XX/XX)

XX Porto
92
'XX Xxxxxxxx
10 YearsXxxxxxx
Tawny Quinta
Xxxxx $XX
de Ervamoira
(XX/XX) $40 (12/15)

94
Dry(XX/XX)
$205 (2/16)
XX '79
'XX Madeira
XxxxxxxxVerdelho
Xxxxxxx Medium
Xxxxx $XX

XX '13
92
'XX Douro
Xxxxxxxx
Duas
Xxxxxxx
Quintas
Xxxxx
Reserva
$XX (XX/XX)
$41 (4/16)
WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

81


http://www.blandys.com http://www.ramospinto.pt

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016

Contents
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 1
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 2
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 4
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 5
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 6
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Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - Cover4
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