Herdade do Mouchão, Mouchão Red Alentejo DOC 2013 (case of 3)

Residual Sugars

Mouchão has been owned by the Reynolds family since the mid-19th century, when Thomas Reynolds set out south from Porto to the Alentejo in search of a cork estate. He found Mouchão, all 900 hectares of it. Even today the estate is mostly cork grove, with a bit of vineyard - although its the wine that it is known for.
This estate is unusual in several aspects: it uses a very high percentage (80% or more) of the Alicante Bouschet grape (most other producers use this as a blending grape) and it maintains a curious collaboration between modern complex trellising in the vineyard and very traditional wine making techniques including foot treading in granite lagares.
The results are spectacular. They produce powerful, well-structured red wines that demand cellaring to round out and mature. As Richard Mayson writes in his encyclopedia, The Wines and Vineyards of Portugal, "Mouchão is undoubtedly one of Portugal's most impressive red wines". They also bottle wines under a second label, Dom Rafael, for both white and red wines that are suitable for drinking earlier.