Carlos Lucas Cota 700

Carlos Lucas
Cota 700

From the three man team of Carlos Lucas, Lucia Freitas and Carlos Rodrigues comes Cota 700, a Portuguese Dao Red full of smoke, earth, leather and tobacco with some deep plum and cherry on the front that makes a very well rounded drinking experience that delivers at the top level amongst its contemporaries whilst maintaining a very affordable option.

Medium light red with high tannic and acidic levels still remains smooth and soft on the palette thanks to the jam-like quality the blueberry and plums bring that remain on the palette throughout the whole process before being softly undercut by the smoke and tobacco. Coffee and oak in the background.

Dao reds are a combination of a wide variety of grapes from across northern Portugal. Due to the climate in the high elevations wines from this region have a fantastic ageing quality that I am excited to explore. I’ve had a lot of really strong Portuguese wines this year, and whilst the Cota 700 doesn’t stand out as out and out flavour bomb like the Villa Oliveira Tinto from Passarella, it definitely delivers in value for flavour at around £11 a bottle, I’d find it difficult to find a similar quality of medium Dao red for less than £16. Pair with beef, lamb, poultry, this will go well with most meat dishes and will go down well at any function.