Prats & Symington, Prazo de Roriz 2018, Douro, Portugal

Tasting Note: A Douro red blend that is complex, brooding and leggy.

Deep-intensity purple in color, this wine has an aromatic, medium-plus-intensity nose of raspberry, black currant, blackberry, black cherry, black olive and rosehip.

On the palate the dry, full-bodied red blend has medium-intensity flavors suggested on the nose supported by medium acidity and ripe, medium-plus tannin ultimately completing with a medium-plus, raspberry-infused finish.

The midpalate drips in black fruit but isn’t the least bit oppressive.

Douro red blends are some of the most unappreciated wines that deliver so much value for the price, and is this bottle is an example of that fact.

Tell a friend (but not too many).

Bottle Note: The Prazo de Roriz is a worthy representative of the Douro style, known of its expression of delicious, full, fresh fruit. The Prazo wine is characterized by red fruits, particularly raspberries and cherries, and the Roriz terroir provides a distinctive minerality and appealing peppery spice. Prazo de Roriz is made for drinking young, but with the potential for developing in bottle for several years. It spends four to five months in French oak barrels, a relatively short period, just sufficient to round off the fruit without diminishing its freshness and vibrancy. “Prazo” (meaning lease) was the name originally given to the vineyard of Quinta de Roriz in the 18th Century.

This wine was submitted for review.