1808 Field Blend Alentejo (Grande Reserva)

Description

1808 Field Blend Alentejo Grande Reserva 2017 — four years in French oak

Traditional Alentejo varieties from two granite vineyards, fermented without temperature control and aged 48 months in barrel. 15.5% alcohol, cellaring to 2042.

Two plots feed this wine: one nine years old at 150 metres, 120 kilometres from the coast, and one 28 years old at 700 metres, 175 kilometres inland. Both are Royat-trained on granite, in a continental climate of very hot, very dry summers.

Hand-harvested in the third week of September. The grapes are partially destemmed and crushed, given three days of cold maceration, then twelve days of fermentation with no temperature control — the old way, which asks for attention rather than equipment. Malolactic in new barrels, followed by 48 months in French oak.

Deep red. Plum on the nose with vegetal, balsamic, wood and cereal notes. The palate is complex and full-bodied, plum and pencil shavings over a firm, balsamic structure.

Serve at 18 ºC. Cellaring 2022–2042. Pairs with pata negra, aged cheese, game stew and cured sausage. First vintage produced: 2017.

Read more in the Journal

• Field Blend
• In Wine, 1 + 1 Is Not 2