Gilman, who rates this his top Portuguese red this year, says:
Carlos Raposo’s 2020 Ideal Tinto is made from a blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro and Jaen. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and aged in used Burgundy barrels that Carlos purchased from a well-known estate in Puligny-Montrachet! The wine is simply brilliant on both the nose and palate, with the bouquet wafting from the glass in a complex constellation of sweet dark berries, black cherries, tree bark, coffee bean, a complex base of soil tones, cigar ash and just a whisper of oak from those used Puligny casks. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and complex, with a sappy core of black fruit, superb soil signature and grip, ripe, chewy and well-integrated tannins and a long, impeccably balanced and precise finish. This is great juice, but give it time in the cellar to soften up those backend tannins a bit. 2032-2075.
Needless to say, you won’t find many – if any – world class red wine values like this.
