Another value play from my recent Garrafeira Nacional discounted purchase - a bottling I’m familiar with, being friends with Caves São Domingos’ Alexandrino Amorim and having sampled several vintages of their Reserva and Garrafeira wines. Being a value play in a region and country of value plays has a similar effect to the phenomenon on the other extreme of wine pricing: these wines are so worthless that Alexandrino refuses to sell their back vintages, since their sentimental value far outstrips their commercial value, and thus supply ends up being somewhat limited.
This 2000 Dão Garrafeira is drinking well, but should be plateauing for a very long time (as well stored bottles of the 1990 can verify). The color is slightly mahogany yet still quite youthful, and the nose kept shifting throughout the evening, as if craving further integration: it began with bold notes of rich acacia honey, followed by sandalwood, cedar, herbal, mushroomy notes overtaking the foreground, and eventually a pleasantly austere minerality added further complexity to the aromatics by the time we finished the bottle. The palate is still biting and piercing, with mouth coating tannin, very vibrant. This is 13% abv, already marginally boozier than the svelte, more feminine 1990, but still very balanced. For under 10€, the price tag on this is a joke, practically an insult to the fine work done by Caves São Domingos on their wines.
