This will certainly be one of my WOTY. Rich, dark ruby. Endlessly complex and intoxicating nose of smoke, tobacco, earth, black cherries, raisins, esteva, mint, a hint of truffles and dark chocolate. Huge, enveloping, soaring acidity, long vibrant finish, poised and seductive. An astonishing monument to the Douro which honestly beats the crap out of all the 1980s Barcas Velhas. Simply gorgeous.
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Great note - was this from the crazy sale you posted on a couple of months back?
Nice, Tomás!
Amazing color for a wine that old.
Sounds lovely.
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Damn, that’s a Portuguese icon. I miss the Douro. Bottle and wine look in great as well. Overall, I’m quite jealous that looks amazing
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I bought a lot of interesting stuff in that sale, but this was a gift from a family friend (and current mayor of the city of Porto) and I suppose provenance is everything in a wine this old, as the bottle was impeccable. The prices on Barca Velha of any vintage are far beyond what I typically spend.
I was honestly expecting this might be poured down the sink, but the first sip out of the decanter was already terrific - just a hint of barnyard and VA that blew off by the time we had our meal. How did your 2000 show on New Year’s?
Outstanding. That wine looks so youthful too. Maybe we should call it an Elizabeth Hurley wine LOL. Seriously, great note and glad the bottle showed so well for you.
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The 2000 was singing, could go another 10-20 years easy, but I really like the spot it was in with fruit profile now. Much better than the 99 I had a few years back, that bottle had some brett and VA that just didn’t blow off, maybe an off bottle, but I think a common trait in some older Barca Velhas. I still have a bottle each of the 99 and 2000 in the cellar. Will probably open those up together in a few years to see how they both do side by side.
WOW!
Hope the 2015 shows as well.
You must mean the 2011, which was just released. Those who have tasted it have told me it is the greatest ever Barca Velha, and possibly the greatest dry Portuguese wine of all time. But 2015 was also a splendid vintage in the Douro, so let’s see what happens in 2023…
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Yes, I meant the 2011. Was thinking about 2015 vintage in general.
Super cool you got to have that!!
They really went through a rough spot with this wine in the mid 1980’s through 1999. By 2000 they were getting it back on track with the new Quinta source for grapes. 2004 was where they hitting home runs again.
As a whole,Sogrape has made vast improvements to many of their wines and Ports in the last decade or so. They’re definitely back on their A-game.
Andy, I don’t know whether you have any facility reading in Portuguese, but you’d get a kick out of this book by Ana Sofia Fonseca about Barca Velha, released at the same time as the 2004 vintage of the wine back in 2012. It reads simultaneously as a portrait of the Douro Superior from the 1950s to the current days - at times merely factual, but often deeply poetic, recounting tales of local lore and notorious anecdotes - as well as a collection of biographies of the men responsible for Barca Velha, above all its creator Fernando Nicolau de Almeida. One of the funniest parts of the book is the description of how temperature control was managed in Barca Velha’s first vintage (1952). Fernando Nicolau de Almeida had ice sent over from Matosinhos to the Quinta do Vale Meão in a truck, put the ice in a large tin vat, and as the temperature dangerously approached 30 degrees celsius in the ‘balseiros’ where the wine was fermenting, his staff would use a hoze to transfer the must to the tin vat while he prayed for the temperature to go down - which it did, to 28 degrees, after many hours of intense anxiety which the book describes. This 1964 must have still been made in this fashion.
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Super cool book Tomas. Didn’t know it existed. Been meaning to grab a book on Portuguese wines. I’ll have to track one down. I’m guessing I’m going to have better luck either in Brazil or in Europe. Thanks for sharing
Rodrigo, Richard Mayson’s ‘The Wines of Portugal’ is excellent, and in English.
One of the funniest parts of the book is the description of how temperature control was managed in Barca Velha’s first vintage (1952). Fernando Nicolau de Almeida had ice sent over from Matosinhos to the Quinta do Vale Meão in a truck, put the ice in a large tin vat, and as the temperature dangerously approached 30 degrees celsius in the ‘balseiros’ where the wine was fermenting, his staff would use a hoze to transfer the must to the tin vat while he prayed for the temperature to go down - which it did, to 28 degrees, after many hours of intense anxiety which the book describes. This 1964 must have still been made in this fashion.
Tomas, I’ve heard that very story from Vito Olazabal while touring the very room where this was vinified! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
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Just a FYI - new book on Portuguese wine coming in a few months time 
(from myself and Ryan Opaz)
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Amazing!
Any chance you could tell us some of the wineries you visited?
So many, but some of my favourites would include:
Douro - Tiago Sampaio (Folias de Baco), Conceito (Rita Marques), Frey Blend, Niepoort
Vinho Verde - Aphros, Quinta da Palmirinha, Quinta de Covela
Bairrada - Luis Pato, Filipa Pato, Vadio
Dao - Antonio Madeira, Casa de Mouraz, Quinta da Boavista (Terras de Tavares/Rufia), Alvaro Castro (Quinta da Pellada, Primus, Quinta da Saes)
Colares - Adega Regional de Colares, Viuva Gomes
Lisboa - Vale da Capucha, Humus, Cortem
Alentejo - Gerações da Talha (Professor Arlindo), XXVI Talhas, Jose de Sousa, Rocim, Bojador, Cabeças do Reguengo
Azores (Pico) - Adega de Vulcao
Amazing lineup! It’s a shame you weren’t able to visit Fita Preta in Alentejo, but otherwise you checked many favorites off my list. Cool stuff.
Thanks! I do know Antonio’s wines, just haven’t been there. I did visit Azores Wine Company, which is also his project.
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