Description

Casa da Passarella was founded in 1892, before Dão was demarcated as a wine region in 1908, and are founders of the region. The Dão is south of The Douro Valley, inland towards the Spanish border. Passarella is in the Serra de Estrela - very high, cold, and poor soils in the 'mountain to the stars', the pass separating Portugal from Spain. The climate is Continental, at an altitude of 600 meters, and allows for long hang times, resulting in sleek ripe tannins, excellent acidity, and overall freshness. The mountains protect from continental extremes of temperature and also from drenching Atlantic rains. Handling is traditional, in concrete vats and large old wood, with fruit manually crushed by ancient devices. Made in stone lagars and aged in cement tanks along with some large old wooden vats, it's a very typical DÂ o blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (elsewhere, Tempranillo), Alfrocheiro, and Jaen (aka Mencia). A descoberta means 'to be discovered' and the somewhat mystical label, a box tagged 1942 is a folkloric reference to an early version of a time capsule a box hidden in the stone walls of the house of Passarella containing a will to be opened 50 years hence and directing the riches of the box be re-distributed to the poor. The box was empty. Enrichment comes from the intangible, not the material, it seems ... A lovely wine supple, fleshy and spicy, with extra delicate tannin and oak. From lead-off, the cherry-chocolate fruit really shows the Dao granite and is laden with wiry dark herbs. In the mouth, it's fleshy-meaty and mineral fresh - round with good movement and fruit-earth interplay. It has an excellent presence in the mouth but is not reliant on weight for the show. Wonderfully composed, it sits and radiates, effortless in effect. Gorgeous delicate tannin is the frame, rimming the mouth and allowing the fruit and spicy acid to radiate delicately. A wonderful advertisement for varietal blends.