2021
100% Tinta Carvalha. Tinta Carvalha is a grape variety from the old Alentejo vineyards, 1/2 sister to Castelão and Moreto and the daughter of a cross between Sarigo and Dozelinho Branco.
A 100% Tinta Carvalha, the only 100% Tinta Carvalha wine in Portugal. A disconcerting wine that demonstrates the role of this grape variety in the ancient winemaking of the Alentejo. Freshness and purity.
The "Chão dos Eremitas" Vineyard
Year planted: 1970. Altitude: 256-267 m.
History
Located at the southern foot of the Serra d'Ossa, this place is special, you can feel it! Two streams bring rainwater down from the Serra and keep the ground cool in the torrid Alentejo heat, never lowering the water table below 5 meters. It was here that vines used to be planted, and the place was known as Chão dos Eremitas, "Chão" being an old term for a flat area, and "Eremitas" referring to the Hermit monks of the order of São Paulo.
Here there is evidence of uninterrupted wine production since the 14th century. The vineyard was so important that a Papal Bull in 1397 exempted the "Pauperes Eremitas" from paying taxes on their vineyards. But archaeology goes further, as the discovery of the only Phoenician wine amphora in the interior of the country, dating back to the 8th century BC, links this site to wine some 900 years before the arrival of the Romans, in what is 3,000 years of history linked to wine.
The grapes are sorted on a sorting table, 30% whole bunch and 70% destemmed, falling by gravity into the vat. Spontaneous fermentation and maceration for 40 days on skins, followed by 12 months in neutral barrels.
Very open, ruby color, intense fresh nose, notes of bitter red fruit, pomegranate, hints of graphite. Very fine tense attack, elegant, lots of depth and tension. A red that shows that the Alentejo can be something else.
A red with good acidity, good with complex fatty fish and potted meats.
Store at 14ºC to be served at 16ºC and drunk at 18ºC.
12.5%Vol.
4,999 numbered 0.75L bottles released in March 2023.
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