Wine & Spirits - February 2020 - 62

FOCUS: CENTRAL PORTUGAL
bouschet (40 percent) with trincadeira, alfrocheiro, cabernet sauvignon and syrah. The
wine's red and black currant flavors release
a stream of white narcissus scents, hibiscus
notes and savory, mineral tannins that feel
padded with richness. Those mineral depths
last alongside and beneath the just-ripe fruit. §
Premium Port Wines, San Francisco, CA
274910

91 | Casa Relvas

$23

2014 Alentejano Herdade de São Miguel
Trincadeira ^ This wine's intriguing red
-fruit character is as meaty as chouriço. Or
maybe it's closer to pomegranate, underripe
currants and superripe wild strawberries.
Our tasters kept going back to the glass,
trying to describe it, agreeing more on the
mineral savor, the bay-leaf note and the
sunniness of the wine. It's a rustic red with
some joy in the end, a playful trincadeira. §
Quintessential, Napa, CA
275207

91 | Dona Maria

$45

2013 Alentejo Grande Reserva ^ Julio Bastos
came to fame in the 1980s, working with João
Portugal Ramos on the first vintages of Quinta
do Carmo, a project centered at his family's
country house, once a gift of Portugal's King
João V to a lady of the court, Dona Maria.
He later partnered with Domaines Barons
de Rothschild (Lafite), eventually selling
his interest in the Quinta do Carmo brand
while holding onto the country estate, with
its cellars and marble lagars, and starting
again with Dona Maria. His grande reserva
focuses on alicante bouschet (50 percent of
this blend); it also includes petit verdot, syrah
and touriga nacional, all of it fermented in
those marble lagars he used for his original
garrafeiras in the 1980s. Give it air and the
bold, juicy black-cherry richness takes on
a light and frisky edge, lasting on a cool
fragrance of strawberries, fresh plums and
dark, subtle spice. § M.S. Walker, Boston, MA
275679

91 | João Portugal Ramos

$90

2015 Alentejo Marquês de Borba Reserva ^
A blend of trincadeira, aragonez, alicante
bouschet and cabernet sauvignon from
vineyards near the town of Estremoz, this
ferments in marble lagars, then ages for 18
months in French oak barrels. At four years
of age, its youthful energy is still in full force,
with vividly purple fruit, scents of freshpicked mint and a pine-sap spiciness. The
earthy tannins add a warm schist-soil grip,
the wine needing several years in the cellar
to mellow and gain some reserve. § Aidil Wines
& Liquors, Newark, NJ

62

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2020

274922

91 | Marcolino Sêbo

$20

2015 Alentejano QP Aragonez ^ Marcolino
Sêbo sold his grapes to the cooperative
in Borba before starting to bottle his own
wines in 2000. His family now farms seven
estates, from Borba north to Estremoz. This
top selection of aragonez is a lean red with
tempranillo's floral cherry-tomato spice
and scents of thyme. It's zesty, tingling with
energy and freshness. Pour it with a summery
eggplant tapenade to brighten your winter. §
Aidil Wines & Liquors, Newark, NJ
275165

90 | Paulo Laureano

$32

90 | Luís Duarte

$45

2015 Alentejo Miguel Maria Laureano
Genus Generationés Alfrocheiro ^ Saturated
with bright red fruit, this wine leans into
vegetal tones of rhubarb and the tannic spice
of purple grape skins. It's rustic and warm,
lasting on spice, an intriguing interpretation
of alfrocheiro, a grape that tends to make a
much lighter red in the cool mountains of the
Dão. § Grape2Glass, Newark, NJ
274747
2015 Alentejo Rubrica ^ Luís Duarte and his
wife, Dora Simões, farm 25 acres of vines
in Reguengos de Monsaraz. Those vines,
planted in 2004, provided the fruit for this
blend-including alicante bouschet, touriga
nacional, aragonez, syrah, petit verdot and
tinta miúda, fermented separately in stainless
steel, then aged for a year in new French
oak barrels. They come together in a black
and saturated red, one that yields brighter
notes of red plum, savory dried oregano
and August tomatoes. For roast baby lamb. §
Specialty Cellars, Hermosa Beach, CA
275109

90 | Quinta da Fonte Souto $55

2017 Alentejo Vinha do Souto ^ This selection of alicante bouschet and syrah is riper
and richer than the Fonte Souto estate wine,
also recommended here. Powerful in its
blackcurrant crunch of fruit, spicy and honeyed in its oak, this is built for braised short
ribs. § Premium Port Wines, San Francisco, CA
274846

89 | José de Sousa

$22

88 | João Portugal Ramos

$12

2017 Alentejo (Best Buy) ^ When JM da
Fonseca purchased the historic José de Sousa
Rosado Fernandes winery and vineyards
in 1986, Domingos Soares Franco set out
to build a collection of locally made clay
amphorae to recreate the wine as it had
been made in the 19th century. He ferments
a portion of this blend in those clay talhas,
some in lagars and some in stainless steel.
Grand noir makes up 58 percent of the wine,
along with trincadeira and aragonez, three
varieties that emphasize herbal spice over
density. This is tense and floral, almost franclike in its herb-and-red-apple-skin bitterness
and savor. The fruit-skin tannins need
braised trotters or something equally hearty
to match. § Palm Bay Int'l, Port Washington, NY
275670
2017 Alentejano Ramos Reserva (Best
Buy) ^ Here's a delicious $12 wine, a rustic,
earthy red that's as brisk and cool as a radish.
There's a line of salinity running through its
green olive and August cherry tomato flavors,
wild strawberry and darker wild blueberry
depths of fruit. It gets a little tomato-saucy
with air, so catch it while it's fresh, to enjoy
with roast game birds. § MundoVino/Winebow
Imports, NY

274716

88 | Alexandre Relvas

$12

2018 Alentejano São Miguel do Sul (Best
Buy) ^ The red fruit of trincadeira brightens
this blend, while cabernet sauvignon and alicante bouschet add to its saturated richness.
It has the crunchiness of underripe plums,
along with the summery sweetness of honey.
For a cookout. § Quintessential, Napa, CA
275345

87 | Adega de Borba

$8

2018 Alentejo (Best Buy) ^ If you're looking
for great drinking under $10, one of the
best places to search is in the co-ops of the
Alentejo, as witnessed by this 2018. It's a
clean, fresh and bright blend of aragonez,
trincadeira and alicante bouschet, packing
the luscious warmth of the region into a
https://www.marcolinosebo.com/pt/ https://www.casarelvas.pt
Wine & Spirits - February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2020
