2022 Mary Taylor Wines "Filipe Ferreira" Tinto Douro

Happily, the 2022 vintage of Douro Tinto from Filipe Ferreira comes in at the same octane level as his lovely 2021 version, tipping the scales at 13.5 percent. The wine is made from the same cépages as well this year: sixty percent Touriga Nacional, twenty-five percent Tinta Roriz and fifteen percent Touriga Franca. The 2022 version reveals a beautifully refined bouquet of cassis, black cherries, a touch of saddle leather, cigar smoke, black tea and a complex base of dark soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and very elegant for a Douro based on Touriga Nacional, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip, ripe tannins and a long, well balanced and tangy young finish. This is an excellent wine, but it will need some time in the cellar to soften up its underlying tannins.