Fonte Seca Grande Escolha 2017

Elaboration

Trincadeira is one of Portugal's most characterful and most undervalued native red varieties — aromatic, structured and capable of genuine elegance when it is farmed with care in the right conditions. In Portalegre, at the foot of the Serra de São Mamede in Alto Alentejo, those conditions exist in abundance: elevation, cooler temperatures and a long winemaking heritage that Fernando Soares has been working with since establishing Herdade do Carvalhal in 1999. The Grande Escolha is the estate's most ambitious expression — 100% Trincadeira selected at its finest, given extended skin maceration to maximise fruit aromas and tannin structure, then aged eight months in French oak to add the toast and vanilla complexity that lifts this wine into a completely different register from the Escolha blend. Bottled with the conviction of a producer who has always believed that Portalegre's best wine is still the one most of the world has yet to discover.