2016 Quinta de Sant'Ana Reserva Tinto

97 Points — In Vino Veritas

"A monument of a wine from Portugal's Lisboa region, the 2016 Quinta de Sant'Ana Reserva Tinto is everything the Super-Douro concept promises and then some. The nose is extraordinary: crème de cassis, dark plum and blackberry at the core, layered with cedar, graphite, dark chocolate, dried violet and a whisper of eucalyptus and pine resin that is unmistakably Portuguese. Nine years of bottle development have done their quiet, meticulous work — the tannins, once powerful and assertive, have resolved into something silky and completely integrated, while the fruit has deepened from fresh and primary into a complex, tertiary richness that keeps revealing itself across an entire evening. The palate is full-bodied, voluminous and deeply concentrated, yet possessed of a freshness and energy — the Atlantic breezes of Mafra running through the wine's spine — that prevents the power from becoming merely ponderous. The finish is extraordinarily long, dark-spiced and authoritative. For lovers of great Napa Cabernet who have not yet discovered what Portugal's finest blended reds can achieve, this is the bottle that will permanently alter their understanding of what is possible. Drink now through 2030." — In Vino Veritas, 97 Points

In 1971, a group of Tuscan producers did something that changed the wine world: they blended indigenous Italian grapes with international varieties and produced wines of such extraordinary power and elegance that the entire classification system was forced to reckon with them. The Super Tuscans were born. Portugal has been watching. The 2016 Quinta de Sant'Ana Reserva Tinto is its answer — call it a Super-Douro.

The quinta itself dates to 1633, originally bordering the Tapada de Mafra — the royal hunting grounds of the Portuguese kings. The Atlantic was twenty kilometers away. The calcareous clay soils, kissed by ocean breezes, give the vines both the structure they need and the cool-night freshness that keeps everything alive and precise.

A marriage of Merlot — the great Pomerol grape — with Touriga Nacional, Portugal's most noble indigenous variety. International conviction blended with Portuguese soul. Nine years in bottle have brought this wine to exactly where it was always going: silky integrated tannins, deepened fruit, and that Atlantic minerality running clean through a long, authoritative finish.

This is the bottle that Napa Cabernet lovers will find irresistible — and the one that will make them question why they haven't been drinking more Portuguese red.