This is not a wine review.
I love this wine and must say so. A friend was vacationing in the Iberian Peninsula and brought back wine from Portugal. He broke it out at Canasta night, and after decanting it, I could not stop sniffing the goodness of the aromas to some people’s distraction! I didn’t taste the wine for the longest time; I just sat and sniffed the beauty!
   
Congratulations to Esporão wines and winemakers David Baverstock and Sandra Alves. This wine was not well-known to me, but it should have been. The most expressive aromas and flavors are packed into every sniff and sip.
The grape varieties used are interesting, some familiar, some not: Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez (aka Tempranillo), Trincadeira, and a grape known to all, Cabernet Sauvignon. They age the wine for a year in American and French oak barrels, and then it ages for eight more months in the bottle.
Their winemakers say you’ll find notes of berry jam, a slight touch of spices, and fresh cocoa enveloped in the nicely integrated toast from the barrels. It was all this and more: wow, rich, full-bodied, fruity with good acidity, perfect integration of oak, and beautifully complex aromas. These are all the components I love in wine, plus its intense ruby color is alluring.
The Region.
The vast wine region of Alentejano VR covers most of southeast Portugal. VR is the Vinho Regional or regional wine designation and is likened to the French Vin de Pays category. Inside the Alentejano VR are the Alentejo DOCs; these are smaller areas where higher-quality wines are produced under the stricter DOC regulations.
by Aidil Wines
DOC Alentejo is divided into eight sub-regions: Portalegre, Borba, Redondo, Vidigueira, Reguengos, Moura, Évora, and Granja-Amareleja. All DOC wines are labeled DOC Alentejo, and some may go a step further and include the sub-region on the label, as in Alentejo-Moura.
This area’s climatic growing conditions vary widely, as do the soils, from granite and schist to chalk. There are high-altitude mountainous regions near the border with Spain, a hot central region with rolling hills, and a scorching southern region. These areas produce wine with their terroir-based signature.
The region produces many crops, but one notable wine-related is cork production. Cork is used in sealing wine bottles, and it’s made from the inner layer of bark of the Quercus suber, commonly called the cork oak. It’s a medium-sized evergreen that grows throughout the Alentejano region. Cork-making is a fascinating and ancient industry that adds charm and uniqueness to wine.
