Mouchão Tinto, Herdade do Mouchao 2012

The estate wine from Mouchão is always a great wine. This latest release, almost black in color and five-years-old, is hugely rich, powered by black fruits and juicy acidity. Made principally from Alicante Bouschet, it shows the power and the aging potential of this variety in the Alentejo. This wine, foot-trodden in open stone lagars, is destined for much longer aging. Drink at the earliest in 2021.

The 2012 Tinto, the regular Estate bottling, is a 73/27 blend of Alicante Bouschet and Trincadeira. It was aged for 22 months in used 5,000-liter tonels of varying ages and comes in at 14.5% alcohol. When last seen, this was lovely but not playing well with the winery's bigger vintages. It's about the same in description, but it has opened and evolved. I loved the mid-palate finesse, and it has just enough tightness on the finish to give it some distinction. It is elegant, but it does have real concentration. Understated but focused, this has a perfect food-wine demeanor. I am still not convinced this is a great Estate Tinto, but you will love drinking it. It will develop complexity in the cellar, and the bottle will drain fast at the table. This may not have as much upside potential as the 2013, but it is in a much better place right now. Eventually, they will separate more. Drink Date 2018 - 2035