 Quinta do Vale Mećo
'Meandro' Douro DOC 2010
VARIETALS: 45% Touriga Nacional
30% Touriga Franca
13% Tinta Roriz
5% Sousćo
4%Tinta Barroca
3% Tinta Cao
REGION: Douro, PORTUGAL
FORMAT: 12 x 750ml
AVAILABLE: 30 cases
DRINKABILITY: 2013 to 2021
90 POINTS - Wine Advocate (December 2012, Issue #204)
"The 2010 MEANDRO DO VALE MEAO is 45% Touriga Nacional, 30% Touriga Franca, 13% Tinta Roriz, 5% each of Sousao, 4% Tinta Barroca and 3% Tinta Cao-more Touriga Nacional this year, about the same Touriga Franca and less Tinta Roriz, to distinguish from 2009. This shows off the difficult 2010 vintage, for all of its pros and cons. The second wine at this estate is awfully nice this year and not very far behind a typical performance. If sometimes the mid-palate does not seem all that concentrated and the wine not terribly rich, it is concentrated enough and the fruit is awfully tasty, becoming more and more expressive with aeration. The structure is beautiful. If someone didn't tell you that there were issues in 2010, you wouldn't find any here. It is a lovely success in the vintage for a second wine. You can approach it now, but it will be better in 2014 or so. Drink now-2022."
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 | | The Olazabal family |
While it is true Quinta do Vale Mećo only began been bottling under its own label in 1999, the estate has an incredible history. Vale Mećo started life as one of the shrewd acquisitions of the celebrated Douro landowner Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. In 1877 she purchased 270 hectares of land near Vila Nova de Foz Cōa in the Douro superior, and over the course of the next decade established a model winery planting all the vineyards from scratch.
The Quinta remained in the family and is owned today by Francisco Javier de Olazabal. Francisco Javier was previously president of the influential A.A. Ferreira enterprise where his family's estate fruit formed the bulk of the legendary Barca Velha, renowned for decades as Portugal's greatest table wine. First produced in 1952, Barca Velha has become a legend, commanding lofty prices at auctions. Today it is revered and is still considered Portugal's undisputed "First Growth".
Quinta do Vale Mećo's 62 hectares of vineyards are "Classified A" vineyards [*all vineyards in the Douro Valley are classified by site location, from A (best) to F (commercial quality)]. In 1998, when Francisco left Ferreira, he decided to use the grapes from his family's estate to make his own wine. The old cellar has been completely renovated. Keeping the traditional architecture and beautiful, as well as beautifully functional, old granite lagares while modernizing. The estate's vineyards are planted in blocks, broadly organized by the diverse soils of the region with blocks containing schist, granite and alluvial soils. This multiplicity of soils adds a great deal of complexity to the wines. The Olazabal family has crafted a concentrated and immensely compelling modern classic from an estate with tremendous history.
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