dark fruit | black plum | forest fruits | stewed | wood | earthy | nicely spicy | soft | intense | nice acidity
The grapes of the Quinta do Piloto Old Vines Reserva come from a vineyard near the town of Palmela, about 30 kilometers south of Lisbon. The vineyard is located on poor sandy soil and is wedged between the Tagus River in the north, the Sado River in the south and the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
This wine is an Old Vines Reserva. Old vines literally means old vines, but in Portugal this also means that over the decades diseased or dead vines were replaced by other grape varieties than originally planted. They planted what they had available.
This wine is made from about 94% Castelão grapes and about 6% is a blend of which it is not clear exactly which grape varieties are involved. These old vines have a lower yield per plant, but the quality of the grapes is higher than grapes from younger vines.
Filipe, the winemaker and owner, told me that he always picks the grapes when the stems, where the grapes are attached, turn brown. At that point, the vine stops feeding the grapes. This means that every year he makes a Piloto Old Vines Reserva red with a different alcohol percentage, but of course in the same style.
This results in an elegant wine with great complexity, depth and intensity and with a storage potential of up to 10-15 years. The wine benefits from a longer maturation in the bottle.
The wine matures for 16 months in partly new and partly used French oak barrels.
