2014 Pera Manca

The 2014 Pêra-Manca red, a 55/45 blend of Trincadeira and Aragonez aged for 18 months in used French vats and then held back in bottle for three years. It comes in at 14% alcohol. The vines range from 30 to 40 years in age. This largely seems to have missed the mark. At least, I remain unconvinced at the moment. The best feature here is the fine structure. Powerful and relatively concentrated, it takes no prisoners and isn't really close to being ready to drink. However, the expression of fruit is nowhere near as interesting. I thought, when I tasted it, that it had the early-picked feel that too many 2014s have—namely, the fruit does not seem particularly ripe or expressive. If the structure is an "A+," the fruit may be a "C+." Not helping the cause, this year the winery used more Trincadeira than Aragonez—not out of choice, but because of 2014 vintage conditions. Trincadeira isn't what you would call a high personality grape. When the fruit already seems constrained, more Trincadeira is probably not the right corrective. There's some black licorice to substitute for an earthier and meatier profile, but this just seems to be missing something. As noted, that something seems to be expressive fruit. It surely has some virtues. It has the power to impress—it is quite astringent—but the rest mostly does not. Even as to the power, there are some balance questions that will have to be answered in the cellar. It's still good, but certainly that's not enough of an accolade with the price point set out, which has spiked considerably in just a few years, at least in the USA. (The 2011 was listed at $81.) This still has potential, but you will need a cellar, deep pockets and some patience to find out if it becomes actually interesting to drink. So far, it doesn't show or even suggest enough. NOTE: Considering the hefty price of this southern icon, it is good that the winery does this to prevent fraud: "As with the last two vintages, 2011 and 2013, this new vintage shows the innovative security system that guarantees its authenticity. This security system, which is embossed on the capsule, shows a unique code associated to a holographic print issued by the National Mint, thus allowing the traceability of the seal of origin and guaranteeing consumers the authenticity of the wine."