Viúva Gomes Colares Tinto 1969

In Colares you can see surfers riding waves as high as multi-storey buildings and sandy beaches that stretch for miles, but you would be hard pressed to find a vineyard – strange, considering that in the 1930s it was one of Europe’s most prestigious wine regions. Today, just 22ha of some 1000ha of Colares’ snake-like ungrafted old vines remain on the dunes amid the hotels and restaurants that dominate what was once Lisbon’s unkempt backyard. Wooden windbreaks and tactically positioned apple trees protect the low-slung vines from howling winds and create a unique environment that produces singular wines, even if nowadays they are practically nowhere to be found.

Adega Viúva Gomes, owned by father and son José and Diogo Baeta, exemplifies why Colares is still revered by those in the know. Recent releases are sold in 500ml bottles (rather than the standard 750ml), as the quantity produced is microscopic, but the Baeta family have also given us an allocation from their wine library – vintages from the 1960s, when bottles held a generous 650ml and the wines were deliberately built to age for decades. Deliciously savoury and full of the balsamic complexity that comes from being perfectly stored for half a century, the ’69 is smooth, elegant and still showing sweet red fruit and is full of the intensity, concentration and energy that are the hallmark of many fine wines.

"For its age, this is very pure with elegance and still-firm tannins, as well as keen acidity. So fine. 96/100” (Jamie Goode)