Quinta do Vale Dona Maria, Vinha do Rio, Red, Douro, Portugal, 2009, is an extraordinary wine, mixing the freshness of the new world with the sophistication of the old world of wine producing. It is made at the world's oldest demarcated wine region, the Douro, Portugal, by great Port wine producers Cristiano van Zeller and Sandra Borges at Quinta do Vale D. Maria. Vinha do Rio ranks top 3 in my Douro wine favourites.
I had it for dinner at Chef Marco Gomes' Foz Velha restaurant with my friends José Manuel Araújo Barros and Nuno L Matos. Superb food by the seaside.
And what a full spectrum wine dinner it was! The exquisite 2000 Jacquesson white champagne; the piquillo pepper taste New Zealand 2011's Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc; the fantastic red Quinta do Vale Dona Maria; and the superb 2002 Dizzy Terre Rouge Jacquesson rosé champagne; courtesy of Nuno, from his wine cellar, and God bless him for that!
Luis Miguel Novais
