2022 Herdade do Sobroso Elevage Tinto

Herdade do Sobroso is located in Vidigueira in the Alentejo region. This is one of the oldest wine regions in Portugal. In the beautiful Alentejo, Herdade do Sobroso has a perfect location with its vineyards located on the banks of the Guadiana River and its tributary the Rio dos Patos or the River of the Ducks. The trademark is the ducks on the labels. It is the perfect setting for the ripening of the grapes and few vineyards have this luxury and this partly explains why this winery can make very beautiful wines because there is never any water debt. In addition to the fact that there is sufficient water, this region is the only one within the Alentejo that has the influence of the ocean, which ensures healthy ripening.

The Élevage Tinto is the absolute top model of Herdade do Sobroso and is a selection of the best grapes from Alicante Bouschet from the south-facing shale-clay plots. Shale or Schist is the rock most often associated with landslides. Due to weathering, the shale turns into a clay-rich soil and looks very similar to slate but is more brittle. The grapes are picked manually and selected down to the berry level. After fermentation in "lagar" with controlled temperature, the wine matures for 12 months in amphora. This wine is silky soft, wonderfully dry with only pure aromas of ripe red fruit, plums, blackberries and cherries. Ripe and supple tannins. Intense, deep and fresh, revealing the purity of the aromas. The vines on this Schist soil give a unique mineral, chalky touch to the wine. This is a fantastic wine of which only a few hundred bottles are made in the best years only. The Amphoren upbringing gives the most honest representation of a wine. It does provide minimal oxygen transmission as with a wooden barrel, but does not add flavors. Put this on the table next to a (much more expensive) Burgundy and be surprised. A nice element is that the cork of this beautiful bottle is replaced with an amphorae/clay closure with the Herdade do Sobrroso logo.

Combine this beautiful wine with traditional Portuguese meat dishes or with ripe cheeses. Nice to drink but can certainly cellar for another 10+ years. Open or decant early in its younger years and pour this wine into a large, spacious glass. For example, our beautiful Spiegelau Bourgogne glasses.

FACT: In the Tab: Attachment you will find the official fact sheet of the wine and some beautiful photos of this great domain.