Esporão Private Selection Tinto 2019

Esporao has made this Private Selection red since 1987 from the best plots at Herdade do Esporao, its estate in the Alentejo in southern Portugal. The blend is led by Alicante Bouschet, a dark fleshed grape that gives deep colour and body, with Aragones, the Portuguese name for Tempranillo, adding red fruit and structure and Touriga Franca bringing floral lift and firm tannin. The Alentejo is warm and dry with schist and granite soils and a wide day to night temperature swing that ripens the fruit fully while keeping enough acidity for balance. The wine is aged eighteen months in French oak and then a further period in bottle, a long raising that builds tannic structure, adds spice and chocolate tones and rounds the wine into a smooth, complete red. Farming is organic. The colour is deep, dark ruby. The nose shows ripe plum and blackberry with tobacco, dark chocolate, pepper and oak spice, and the palate is full bodied and structured with ripe tannins, good freshness and a long, savoury finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees. Good with roast and grilled red meats.