1995 Croft Roeda

[JacobH]

I currently have a cold which is somewhat impairing my sense of smell (and thus probably my palate). Young Quinta da Roedas seem to have enormously powerful noses so opened this in the hope that I might actually be able to smell something!

The cork was quite firmly stuck and split as I removed it, which was somewhat unexpected for a ’95. There was a reasonable amount of fine sediment; no more or less than would be expected.

+90 minutes: the nose does not disappoint. It’s a little hard to judge but I think it is perhaps weaker than I remember in the past, but still with a strong presence of blackberries. Greater subtlety is impossible. In the mouth, there is an initial sensation of strawberry followed by a surprising amount of tannins and enough alcohol to remind me of a house ruby of which I have drunk rather too much.

No doubt this will benefit from more time, though at the moment it seems very stereotypical of Roeda: good on the nose, less so in the mouth.

[JacobH]

+24 hours: this has now nicely sorted itself out. The nose is slightly weakened, but the big change is on the palate: there is now better integration, particularly at the back of the mouth and it feels more mature. Indeed, for a ’95, I might even describe it as surprisingly so. Not a great wine with a long future ahead of it, but perfectly acceptable now and will probably peak in a year or so.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I had one of these recently, and I found that although it was very easy to drink now because of the huge amount of fruit in it, it had the acidity to keep it going for a good ten years. Possibly even more.