Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 69

YEAR'S BEST PORTUGUese WINes
wine under biodynamic principles. At first,
this tastes fully mature, with the sweet mushroom notes of an old Rioja. Later, as it opens,
it gains a foresty coolness, the silken texture
yielding notes of pomegranate, rose and
dried flowers. Decant it to serve with roast
game birds stuffed with wild mushrooms.
(W&S 4/17) § Think Global, Santa Barbara, CA
219159

90 | Herdade do Esporão

$22

2015 Alentejano Quatro Castas ^ This wine's
bright blueberry scents carry through to flavors of tart berries that last. The richness
of its Alentejano fruit is present, but constricted by savory fruit tannins (think blueberry skins) and a clean, refreshing note of
cassis. David Baverstock and his team make
Quatro Castas from a selection of the four
varieties that performed best in the vintage;
in 2015, they were alicante bouschet, touriga
nacional, syrah and trincadeira. (W&S 4/17) §
Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ

plete. Mouchão developed a reputation for
long-lived reds prior to the 1974 revolution,
which rocked the vineyard. Now, having been
replanted, the vines are gaining maturity and
the 2011 vintage may mark a new milestone
for Mouchão. Cellar some and check on it 20
years from the vintage. (W&S 4/17) § Wine InMotion USA, Union, NJ
226532

90 | Herdade do Rocim

$22

2016 Alentejano Alicante Bouschet ^ Dense
with purple-red fruit, this is bright and tight,
like a ripe blueberry bursting out of its skin.
Pour it with braised pigs' trotters or other
rich, Alentejano-style stews. § Langdon Shiverick, Los Angeles, CA
218017

90 | Marcolino Sebo

$50

2011 Alentejo Visconde de Borba Garrafeira ^ An estate-grown selection of castelão,
alicante bouschet and aragones, this is a
dense web of powerful tannins, its mineral,
umami structure locking in the warm blueberry flavors. Built to cellar, this will need five
years or more to come around. (W&S 4/17) §
Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ
226654

89 | Magnum Carlos Lucas $16

218972

90 | Herdade do Peso

$20

2014 Alentejo Colheita ^ Decant this to get
past its hard line of tannins and acidity,
allowing the length of earthy black mushroom and purple fruit flavor to engage. This
shifts from an edgy wine with sarsaparilla
scents to a sleek and generous red with clean,
lasting fruit, fragrant and spicy, ready for a
steak. (W&S 4/17) § Evaton, Stamford, CT
219725

90 | Herdade do Mouchão

$46

2011 Alentejo Mouchão ^ John Reynolds
purchased this quinta in 1892, building an
adobe winery on site in 1901 that Iain Reynolds Richardson still uses today. He now
farms 94 acres of vines, focused on alicante
bouschet, a variety that John Reynolds's wife,
Isabel Andrade Bastos, took a liking to and
the family has championed ever since. This
2011 includes 15 percent trincadeira in the
blend, foot-trodden in stone lagares and
then aged in large, old wooden vats for 24
months. The influence of its time in wood
shows more than the fruit, until that rich succulence begins to take over from the volatile
notes. It feels plush, concentrated and com-

2014 Alentejano Maria Mora Reserva
(Best Buy) ^ Syrah, like alicante bouschet,
has found a home in Alentejo; both are components of this blend, along with touriga
nacional, an import from Portugal's north.
Together the varieties manage the heat of the
region well, presenting a wine that's neither
overtly alcoholic nor overly dense. Its black
fruit and gentle structure make it a spicy red
to serve with flank steak. § Sarmento's Imports,
Fall River, MA
226592

88 | Monte da Cal

2016 Alentejano Colheita Selecionada
(Best Buy) ^ Clean and peppery, this warm
Alentejo red has flavors of stewed figs, licorice and black plum. A generous red and a
great value, ready for braised pork shoulder. §
FJN Fine Wines, Cumberland, RI
226541

88 | Ribafreixo

$10

2014 Alentejano Barrancôa (Best Buy) ^ A
dense red with a lot of wood tannins, this is
simple and firm, with richness to the blackberry flavors. Pour it with grilled meats to
assuage its tannins. § Dionysos Imports, Manassas, VA

BAIRRADA
219783

92 | Vadio

$45

2012 Bairrada Grande ^ As W&S Tasting
Director Sarah Looper described it, "This

is nebbiolo, but not." It's delicate, dark and
juicy, showing the brisk coolness of baga
grown in calcareous clay soils. A day later,
the tannic structure is more muscular, still
graceful as it yields to the fresh strawberry
fruit. This should develop well over the coming decade. Luis Petrão makes Vadio in a collaboration with his friend Eduarda Dias and
his father, Manuel Dinis, who farms the family's 11.1 acres in the village of Poutena. (W&S
4/17) § Grapes2Glass, Newark, NJ
219667

90 | Caves São João

$41

90 | Vadio

$20

88 | Quinta do Encontro

$15

1990 Bairrada Frei João ^ Caves São João has
offered some beautiful older bottles from its
cellars in recent years, this being their latest release, from 1990. The browning edge
and brick-red color of the wine in our bottle showed full maturity, as did the scents of
dried flowers and the caramelized character
of the dried fruit and date flavors. Though
our panel had hoped for some fresher notes,
the wine was lovely, the structure still tight,
and other bottles may well be brighter.
(W&S 4/17) § Obrigado-Vinhos Portugal, New
Rochelle, NY
219782
2013 Bairrada ^ This wine's cool red fruit has
a note of green fig to fill out the tannins,
which close it off until it's breathed a day's
worth of air. Then the bright, juicy flavors
rush in, the tannins and fruit entwined, making this accessible now with decanting, and
suited to a few years of bottle aging. (W&S
4/17) § Grapes2Glass, Newark, NJ
226585
2014 Bairrada Q do E Preto Branco
Reserva (Best Buy) ^ This blend includes
white grapes (bical) with red (touriga nacional and baga), pointing up the freshness of
the luscious, dark and inky fruit, emphasizing its firm spice. An intriguing, accessible
Bairrada, this is ready for rich pork dishes. §
FJN Fine Wines, Cumberland, RI

BEIRAS
226587

94 | Luis Pato

$48

2001 Beiras Quinta do Moinho ^ Luis Pato
farms a collection of parcels in Bairrada, the
far-coast district of Beiras, south of Porto. His
prime sites for the local baga grape are on
clay-limestone soils, including this ten-acre
vineyard. He ferments the grapes in stainless
steel, then ages the wine in French oak barrels, then, in the greatest vintages, sets some
of it aside in his cellars to age. Pato, an evangelist for his local grape, knows what baga
can become as its tannins gentle with age.
WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

https://eng.sograpevinhos.com

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