(2019) 100% Touriga Nacional, and very nicely perfumed with small red fruits and cherry. A very fresh style with a grapefruit tang of acidity sharpening the picture.
(2019) Touriga Nacional, Aragonez, Syrah. Dry, quite burly tannins, a dry lick of saltiness to the berry fruits, perhaps rustic tannins slightly overpowering the fruit.
(2019) Syrah, Alicante and Touriga Nacional. More open and an appealing than the Trinca Bolotas, spice and a more relaxed oxidative character, older oak adding a creamy, deep note.
(2019) Alicante Bouschet is 68% of the blend, with Syrah and Touriga Nacional. Much more obviously minty and ripe, with vanilla and tight blackcurrant. Big dry tannins, but the juicy ripeness of the fruit and the lemony bite of acidity sits nicely in the long, quite elegant finish. Price quoted is if buying a case of six: use the wine-searcher link for single bottle stockists, but price in the £25 - £27 range.
(2019) Antão Vaz, harvested in two parts, two weeks apart, "first on melon skins second on white fruit". Oatmeal and almond touches, with clear, cool white fruit, fine apple and pear clarity and acidity, touches of light breadiness add interest.
(2019) 100% Alicante Bouschet from two blocks, one on clay giving strong fruit and freshness, the other on sandy soil with lower acid and more roundness says Luis. Aged in all new oak, 70% French, 30% American. Beautiful aromatic nose, lovely coffee and mocha, and deep but bright fruit, graphite and cedar, and long, cool acidity with fine, tight-grained tannins. Stockist quoted is for the previous vintage.
(2019) A small percentage of this was matured in amphora, almost all Alicante Bouschet with a little Syrah. Beautifully pure nose, pepper and hints of flowers, also a mocha note in the background, with a little sizzle of bacon fat. Freshness with fleshy plum and pepper-spiced, fat cherry fruit. Lovely endive bite of bitterness and cocoa to the long, pure, very fine tannin finish.
(2019) Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet and Aragonez. Perfumed and quite leafy, a vegetal hint to floral and cherry. Deeper and meatier than the Sossego Tinto, a liquorice twist of bittersweet tannin, acid and dark fruit.
(2018) One of my all-time favourite wines from Portugal, Mouchão in 2013 is a bit of a stunner. A blend of Alicante Bouschet and Trincadeira, foot trodden, and made in a big, old oak vats, it always strikes me as a cross between Burgundy and the Rhône, with the perfume and soulful character of the former, and spice and juicy structure of the latter - while, of course, being entirely its own wine. A beautiful medley of ripe black berries, sweet earth, subtle spicing and floral touches leads on to a palate that is sumptuous and deep, yet light in both texture and its freshness: an alert, life-force of a wine, the tannins and juicy acids giving lots of attack and tension, and suggesting this will only improve with cellaring, but already giving great pleasure with its core of firm, savoury fruit.
(2018) A wine you won't forget, Amnésia is a blend of Aragonez (Spain's Tempranillo) with Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, the sort of Portuguese/French mix that the Alentejo region does rather well. Unoaked, there's a bright blackcurrant and kirsch character on the nose, and the palate presents a straightward but juicy and highly gluggable raft of sweet, dark berry fruit, all balancing nicely into the finish which is smooth and elegant. Very nicely done, super-modern stuff.