Critics reviews
(Tim Atkin MW, Top 20 Picks from Berrys' Summer Sale, www.timatkin.com, 14 July 2011)
The Wine Gang, www.thewinegang.com, July 2011
About this WINE
Callabriga
Callabriga is the result of several years work by Sogrape’s winemakers to develop a truly new wine from the Old World, offering the consistency and approachability of a New World wine brand, but with the individuality and heritage of Portugal.
The Callabriga range encompasses wines from each of the three most recognised wine growing regions in Portugal (Alentejo, Douro and Dão) and it includes a reserve range for each region), with one grape variety in common – Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo). Tinta Roriz, one of the mainstays of Port, is a noble grape indeed, with a firm structure but plenty of fruit character.
Callabriga borrows its the name from a Roman fortified settlement, an implicit acknowledgement of the structural power of the wine and the spread of civilization, vinous and otherwise, to these once remote outposts.
Tempranillo/Tinto Fino
A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.
Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.
In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.
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Description
From the granite mountains of the Dão region, this wine is a powerful blend of indigenous varieties Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and, even less well known, Alfrocheiro. The 2008 is rich but perfectly harmonious and balanced. An intense aroma of red fruit is juxtaposed with notes of vanilla, nutmeg and pepper; the palate has damson fruit, spice and beautifully integrated tannins. Try with lamb shanks.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, January 2011)
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