This is rare, well aged and irresistible top quality vintage moscatel.
The absolute best clone, muscat blanc a petit grains, is used for this moscatel do douro, the sweet mulled wine type made from grapes from the Douro region that is vinified and aged as a tawny port. As it is made from moscatel grapes, it is technically not port, but you sense the kinship, while moscatel’s grape-identical aromas give the wine an aromatic, fresh profile. The sweetness is analytically like other port wines, but due to moscatel’s aromatic profile, it is nevertheless its own.
The grapes for the wine come from the highest-lying fields (approx. 600 m.a.s.l.), where the green grape varieties dominate, as they achieve the right acidity around the cooler and wind-swept hilltops.
1996 was a less fortunate year for vintage port, while the cool year produced good maturity in moscatel with an excellent acidity freshness. This is perfectly captured in Quinta do Portal Moscatel do Douro Reserva 1996, which with a full 19 years of oxidative aging in 550-650 liter casks has achieved just the right balance between aging aromas and fruit identity.
The color is in the direction of old cognac, so there is something nice to look at while drinking it. Aroma and taste are an inexplicably successful marriage of moscatel’s grape-fresh, floral, outgoing aromas and, on the other hand, the oxidative elements from almost two decades of aging in oak barrels. The significant evaporation during storage has contributed significantly to the great intensity of the wine. The approx. 110 grams of residual sugar/litre is nicely offset by the wine’s acidity, so that it floats weightlessly through the sensory apparatus, which in turn is bombarded by complex aromas.
Enjoy the wine from a white wine glass, at 8-12° for desserts with pickled citrus fruit/peel and/or hints of caramel. In practice, it could be an almond tart, creme caramel with pickled, caramelised citrus fillets, caneles or bread & butter pudding; the possibilities are many. Finally, it is approved as a cozy wine.
If you have a spartan approach, it can be stated that the wine stays fresh several weeks after opening, the longest in the fridge.
