Monte Cascas Vinha do Quinto

Description

Monte Cascas Vinha do Quinto 2016 — 96% Baga from vines planted in 1920s Bairrada

A single-vineyard Bairrada red from Cordinhã: 96-year-old bush-trained vines on limestone, 9,260 plants per hectare, two tonnes of fruit. Cellaring to 2042.

Cordinhã sits 24 kilometres from the Atlantic at 88 metres, close enough for the ocean to temper every summer. The vineyard is 96 years old, planted north to south at 9,260 vines per hectare on limestone soils, and yields barely two tonnes — the low, concentrated crop old Baga gives when nobody pushes it.

The blend is 96% Baga with 3% Maria Gomes and 1% Bical. Hand-harvested in the fourth week of September. Thirty per cent partial destemming, crushing into lagar, three days of cold maceration, twelve days of temperature-controlled fermentation, gentle foot treading twice daily, malolactic in new barrels, then 24 months in used oak. 12.5% alcohol.

Deep red. Red fruit on the nose with scrubland, vegetal and balsamic notes, wood and spice behind. The palate is complex and balsamic, marked by pencil shavings, firm and notably elegant.

Serve at 18 ºC. Cellaring 2022–2042. Pairs with pata negra, Serra da Estrela cheese, game stew or suckling pig Bairrada-style. First vintage produced: 2010.

Read more in the Journal

• Pruning Is Not a Cut: It Is a Choice for Several Years
• Tannins