This past September, I had the very good fortune to visit Portugal’s Douro Valley, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and home to some of the best-yet-least-appreciated dry wines anywhere in Europe. The Port, of course, is what most people associate that part of the country with, and it’s remarkable – a true wine of place, one of the last great remaining values in the world of wine. But the dry reds are what really surprised me.

It makes sense, of course, that dry reds would do well here: The steeply terraced vineyards, the well-drained land, the preponderance of sun, the staggering range of indigenous grape varieties, the history – all of these resulted in one of the biggest surprises I’ve experienced in my recent wine-tasting travels: I felt like some sort of Henry the Navigator in reverse, heading from the New World to the Old in search of something I hadn’t even imagined.

And this, the Dow Vale do Bomfim Reserva 2009 ($23), embodies so much of what I fell so quickly and deeply in love with in the Douro Valley: It’s firmly rooted to its little patch of the planet, drinking well right now, and promises a lovely evolution in the years to come.

Dow Vale do Bomfim Reserva 2009

This is a dry Douro red that’s initially marked by the 12 months it spent in oak but that quickly blows off and reveals the telltale mineral notes of so many of the great reds from here. It’s also a wine that possesses more than enough fruit to keep it approachable, with sun-warmed baby strawberries, bursting-ripe raspberries and spiced plums. On the palate, bright acidity and humidor spice frame flavors of cherries, more raspberries, black peppercorn, toast, warm vanilla, and a finish singing with mineral, cocoa powder and a zip of kirsch. It’s drinking beautifully now, but I’d wait until 2013, and then enjoy it through 2017.