Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022 - 89

Alentejo
90 | Paulo Laureano
$24
2017 Alentejo Private Selection Vinhas
Velhas ^ Alicante bouschet makes up 40 percent
of this blend, dominating it with smoky
flavors of black mission figs and dried cherries.
The fruit is black but yielding in its tannins,
intriguing in its layers, ready to decant
for braised baby goat with red wine and figs. §
Grape2Glass, Newark, NJ
90 | José de Sousa
$19
2018 Alentejano Herdade do Monte da
Ribeira (BEST BUY) ^ Domingos Soares Franco
focused this vintage on grand noir (52 percent),
blending in trincadeira and aragonez.
It's dry and austerely tannic, needing air to
bring up the richness and a steak to bring
the raspberry ahead of the raspberry-seed flavors.
There's an intriguing earthy barnyard
character even as the wine finishes clean. § TriVin,
New Rochelle, NY
88 | Carmim
$10
2019 Alentejano Terras d'el Rei (BEST BUY) ^
This wine's luscious black fruit has a grapeand-plum
jam flavor. It's ripe with tannins
that carry the scent of smoky black tea. For a
hearty stew. § Tri-Vin, New Rochelle, NY
88 | Cortes de Cima
90 | Adega Cooperativa
de Redondo
$15
2019 Alentejano Chaminé (BEST BUY) ^ A
grape-scented red with the coolness of an
earthen cellar, this balances its sweetness
with pithy acidity and light tannins. It's an
easy match for grilled meats. § Tri-Vin, New
Rochelle, NY
$50
2017 Alentejano Porta da Ravessa Grande
Escolha ^ Focused on touriga nacional and
syrah, this blend delivers simple purity in its
cool blackberry and black cherry flavors. The
richness of the texture surrounds the spiciness
of the syrah, making it a wine for game
birds, like duck braised with prunes. § Saraiva
Enterprises, New Bedford, MA
90 | Herdade da Rocha
$19
2017 Alentejo Red (BEST BUY) ^ Alicante bouschet
is the closest thing to a local variety in
this blend (it's French, in fact, but thrives in
Alentejo). One half is touriga nacional, one
third is syrah, and the wine's very berry flavor
is surrounded in umami-fresh-pressed olive
oil, black mushroom, kale and cardoons.
Decant it for grilled sardines. § Brands of Portugal,
Rumford, RI
90 | Herdade do Sobroso $24
2018 Alentejo Reserva ^ This grows at an
estate in Vidigueira, a blend of aragonez,
trincadeira, alicante bouschet and alfrocheiro
that comes together in clean, light
strawberry and tobacco flavors. It's juicy and
cool, a little syrupy at first, but the fresh fruit
takes over with air as a light mineral edge
of tannins helps define it. For braised pork. §
Brands of Portugal, Rumford, RI
88 | Casa Santos Lima
$11
2019 Alentejano Monte das Promessas
Tinto (BEST BUY) ^ Richly ripe, this earthy wine
focuses on touriga nacional and syrah, providing
a perfumed warmth that sits between
medicinal and mineral. It's herbal and rustically
earthy, for an equally rustic stew. § New
France Wine, St. Paul, MN
88 | Merino
$16
2018 Alentejo Old Vines (BEST BUY) ^ Clean
and fragrant in a ripe style, this wine's sweet
plum and raspberry flavors are bright and
inviting. The tannins have a grape-skin and
-stem savor to balance the sweetness of the
fruit. For brisket. § Tri-Vin, New Rochelle, NY
87 | Cartuxa
$12
2019 Alentejano EA Tinto (BEST BUY) ^ This
blend's super-ripe plum flavors are a dark,
smoky appeal. The tannins mix the savor of
baking chocolate with an herbal note of rosemary.
Warm and rich. § Tri-Vin, New Rochelle,
NY
87 | Herdade do Esporão $10
2020 Alentejano Monte Velho Red (BEST
BUY) ^ A sunny, fun-loving Alentejo blend
highlighting aragonez and trincadeira, this
wine's honeyed fruit has jammy warmth,
with enough stem tannins to keep it vibrant
and lifted. Serve it with a slight chill. § Now
Wine Imports, Livingston, NJ
87 | João Portugal Ramos $13
2019 Alentejano Ramos Reserva (BEST BUY) ^
This plummy red has simple flavors of grape
jam. Its smooth texture belies some austere
tannins that come up in the end, needing a
steak to allay them. § Winebow, NY
86 | Merino
$10
2020 Alentejano Merino (BEST BUY) ^ An
austere red with juicy blueberry-jam flavors
and bloody black tannins, this will add some
spice to stuffed grape leaves. § Tri-Vin, New
Rochelle, NY l
88 | Adega de Portalegre $12
2018 Portalegre Conventual Tinto (BEST
BUY) ^ Clean and fresh, this may be a simple,
grapey red but there is some easy grace to its
texture. Its black-grape and black-cherry flavors
are peppery, open and airy, a light wine
for Sunday suppers. § Brands of Portugal, Rumford,
RI
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Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022

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