Quinta Nova Pomares Douro Tinto 2019

Under the guardianship of the Amorim family, Quinta Nova has gone from one strength to the next as Quinta Nova’s beautiful 2019 Pomares Tinto will attest. This is a wine that captures the eye with its brilliant ruby hue as it delivers a draught of juicy blackberry, cherry, and red fruits. Yet, it is in the mouth that this wine truly shines by offering exuberant fruit flavors, delicate spice tones, and a delightful hint of vanilla from a nine-month hiatus in new French oak barrels. Sensuous, elegant, and full of flavor with nary an edge, the 2019 Quinta Nova Pomares Tinto combines the best of Old World Douro with today’s contemporary taste for elegance. Smooth tannins add structure and provide a gracious finish, too. This is a polished Portuguese red that is best when given at least 20 minutes of aeration and served at cool room temperature (no more than 62° F). Enjoy now or cellar for several more years. Anticipated maturity: 2021-2025.

Portuguese reds make great companions to the rich heady dishes that the Portuguese love to devour in copious quantities. Consequently, one need not be afraid of overpowering the youthful 2019 Quinta Nova Pomares Tinto. One especially fine accompaniment is Portuguese Bean Soup, a heady concoction of beans, sausage, potatoes, carrots, and almost anything else you care to throw in. It makes a wonderful one pot dish and offers great companionship to Quinta Nova’s 2019 Pomares Tinto. Marinated Pork or Lamb, bathed in plenty of red wine, onion, garlic, bay leaves and more, also gets our nod to accompany the 2019 Quinta Nova Pomares Tinto. However, when the Portuguese talk about marinating, they truly mean marinating – two to three days is hardly off the charts, but we’ll let you decide when enough is enough. If simpler, more familiar dishes are more to your liking, try Three Beef Sliders with melted Cheddar cheese and red onion or Penne Pasta with a basil pesto cream sauce. Spinach Gnocchi with a vodka cream sauce also warrants two thumbs up. Vegetable Lasagna works well, too, but then most meat, vegetable, and cheese dishes also pair nicely with this wine. Enjoy!

Quinta Nova, whose full name is Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo, embodies the history and extreme beauty of the Douro, Portugal’s most iconic wine region and home to Port as well as the country’s most renowned unfortified red wines. Quinta Nova was owned by the Portuguese royal family until 1725 when it became Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (New Estate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) when two estates merged. It has been recognized as a bona fide Douro estate since the first demarcation of the Douro in 1756. And throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, several Portuguese families contributed to the growth and importance of the property by giving life to the vineyards, fruit orchards, and olive grove as well as the property’s historic chapel, winery, and manor house, all of which are integrated into the estate’s hills. Since 1999, four generations of the Amorim family have been the owners and guardians of this formidable estate.

Quinta Nova’s 120 hectares (296 acres) of vines climb the steep hillsides above the swift-running Douro River to bask in the sun and brilliant light that reflects off the river. As one expects from the Douro, red wines account for most of Quinta Nova’s production. The estate’s Pomares Tinto (month’s feature) is a traditional blend of Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca, and Touriga Nacional, and it is the most emblematic of Quinta Nova’s wines. The estate also produces several other exceptional red wines, including an un-oaked red blend, Terroir Blend Reserva, and Mirabilis, a very dense long-lived red. Quinta Nova also fashions small quantities of Pomares Branco, a splendid Douro white wine from indigenous Portuguese varietals. And of course, Quinta Nova crafts an exceptional portfolio of Ports.

Tinta Roriz, also known as Aragones, is Portugal’s name for Tempranillo, the Iberian Peninsula’s most prized red grape variety. Tinta Roriz, like its Spanish sibling, thrives on the hills above the mighty Douro River in both Portugal and Spain where the Douro goes by the name of Duero. Tinta Roriz/Tempranillo also figures significantly in the finest wines of Spain’s Rioja and Castilla y León.

Touriga Franca is the most widely cultivated grape in Douro and is one of the five recommended grape varieties for Port. It is a deeply colored, highly perfumed, and richly fruity grape that lends both flavor and elegance to the Douro’s wines. It is often blended with Tinta Roriz and Touriga Nacional.

Touriga Nacional is a distinctive Portuguese varietal that many consider to be Portugal’s most important grape variety. It produces a very full-bodied wine with long ageing potential, which makes it a favorite among the Port houses. It is also increasingly being blended with Portugal’s other indigenous varietals, especially in the Douro and Dao regions, where it also accounts for many of Portugal’s finest unfortified red wines.