Quinta do Piloto Moscatel Roxo Coleção de Família 50cl

The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by:
Mark Squires

The NV Moscatel Roxo Coleção da Família is a special ‘item’, part of the family's old collection, with only 25 bottles sold each year. It has 295 grams per litre of residual sugar and just under 17% alcohol. In total it spent more than a century in old wood, but it's not exactly a single vintage. It works more like a solera, and this edition was bottled in 2021.

The winery says that in the early 20th century, when Humberto da Silva Cardoso bought Quinta do Piloto, he “set aside 10 small 50-litre barrels for himself, which he filled with the best moscatel from his estates. Since then, this moscatel has stayed in the shade of the Quinta do Piloto cellar, reserved only for the family. Year after year, four generations have followed the ritual of filling each barrel with the best of each vintage.” The last addition to this lot was from the 2005 vintage.

Although it's a non-vintage wine, with different blends of vintages in each edition, it comes in a pack with a booklet that only includes the bottling date. Unfortunately, that date isn't visible on the outside.

I found the regular Moscatel, its sibling mentioned in this report, younger, but this one surprises with its density, especially for a Roxo, and it's very complex. There's not much fresh fruit here; the wine clearly shows its age, and it's not as aromatic and vibrant as a young Roxo. That's to be expected, to a point. Still, I'd say the regular Moscatel is a step up and more likely to justify the price, though that's obviously hard to judge in each case.