Fantastic Wines to Try From Portugal's Alentejo Wine Region
I’ve got a longer history with Portugal’s Alentejo wine region than most wine writers (and I might be the only person to ever wave the Steeler's mighty Terrible Towel from Esporao’s iconic ancient tower in the heart of the region!). Alentejo means “B...
Alentejo White Wines
This white hails from Portalegre in the northernmost part of Alentejo. I’ve been a longtime fan of this wine (and this producer in general). A blend of 75% Arinto and 25% Verdelho planted arund 1,600 feet, this is heady, floral, and perfumed.
Antão Vaz, a variety that’s mostly unique to Alentejo, compries a mere 1% of all plantings in Portugal, but is one of Alentejo’s most important grapes. Great balance in this white, with lovely minerality undercutting its stone fruit flavors.
A blend of Arinto, Alvarinho, and Sauvignon Blanc, there’s much to love about the Vila Santa white —It’s chalky, stony, flinty, pithy, and chock full of stone fruit, lemon peel, and marmalade hints.
This producer is most famous for its (very) expensive red wine, but this white is also fantastic. Apples, melons, and breadth; this is deceptive stuff, in that it certainly comes off as ripe,, but that forwardness belies fascinating texture that make...
Esporao's Reserva is perennially one of my favorite Alentejo whites; and they commission stellar artwork for the label that changes every year.
Alentejo Red Wines
Alicante Bouschet is Alentejo's flagship red wine variety, comprising just 2% of Portugal’s plantings but 20% of Alentejo’s plantings. Meat, smoke, licorice, pepper, iodine, leather, black cherry, this is spot-on for ‘AB,’ and it’s DEEP.
This tasty blend of Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon is showy in all the good ways: leather, dried herbs, dried violets, sour black cherry, and a bold, silky, fleshy mouthfeel.
Aside from the Republic of Georgia, Alentejo is the only region worldwide with an unbroken tradition of amphora winemaking dating back over 2,000 years. Made from 58% Grand Noir, 22% Trincadeira, and 20% Arragonez, this red is aged in large clay vats...
Alentejo producers are masters of the blend, and this red combines Aragones, Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, and Castelao. Dark, fruity, savory, concentrated, leathery, and precise, it’s polished but is also raging in its palate power.
Floral, plummy, brambly, spicy, and punctuated by graphite notes, your nose will thank you for the adventure of trying this red.
With notes of Thyme, graphite, dark cherries, bramble, mulberry, and enviable amounts of textural tension, this red has serious wine kung-fu going on!
This red is plummy and lovely, with spices, rose petals, and layer upon layer of red berry fruit flavors that move from tart to brambly to ripe.
Sourced from some of Portugal's oldest vines, this red has a nose that is smokey and meaty, with leather hints, followed by bitter dark chocolate, graphite, and black licorice. Powerful and serious, inky and substantial, but yet somehow also fresh!
This ultra-premium red is only produced in exceptional vintages, and takes its name for the aging process: after being hand-picked, foot-trodden, and whole-bunch fermented in open lagares, the wine spends time in two old 5000L barrels (called tonel 3...
This is often hailed as one of the best red wines not only of Alentejo, and not only of Portugal, but of the entire world. If you can find it, it's a must-try for red wine lovers.