Panic


Luis Pato, Bairrada, Vinha Pan, 2012

Age Baga for about a decade or more and see what happens. There's always a mix of graphite and spicy/herbal notes in the grape, a fruit profile that is equal parts red, black and blue, at its best. Pato makes single vineyard Baga from two crus in Bairrada. In Barossa, the wines are muscular and the graphite character is quite pronounced. The wines from Pan are softer and more elegant and I find the different aromas combine for a more holistic effect. 

At nine years of age, this is a beautiful wine, composed in style that recalls Bordeaux, but with the warmth of the Iberian south. The fruit is not overly ripe or sweet, but you can sense how it swallowed the warmth of the sun, which smooths out the somewhat scratchy tannins. (May 22, 2021)

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