Horácio Simões Costa a Costa

The Wine Advocate
RP 92
Reviewed by: Mark Squires

The 2010 Moscatel Roxo Costa a Costa (“Coast to Coast”), bottled under a long cork in November 2021, was aged for 10 years in used French wood and has 203 grams of residual sugar. The winery says: “With the 2010 Moscatel Roxo harvest, we had the idea of putting 10 225-litre barrels (part of the production) in the hold of a pleasure boat. So these barrels sailed the River Sado for five years and now rest in the winery.” The boat went from one coast to the other, hence the name. The winery says the difference from cellar ageing was noticeable, with more evaporation, a different aroma and more sediment. Fortified Moscatel is, of course, very resilient and would hardly be harmed by this.

Indeed, this is very different and quite magnificent for a relatively young wine. It shows roasted orange peel on the nose and a concentrated finish. It's both delicious and intriguing. Of course it's still a 10-year-old, so it's far from the most concentrated Moscatel in history, but it's a high-quality 10-year-old. It isn't imported and costs about 40 euros in Portugal. The drinking window given is only an estimate, but I wonder whether the treatment it received will affect its usually long ageing curve.