Quinta da Fonte Souto, Florao Tinto 2019

Here at Vin Neuf we love wines from Portugal – but sadly have to admit we don’t sell bucket loads of them! That is despite the fact that I have an old bottle of Mateus Rosé dating back to the 1970s – which we bought from a cellar some 20 years ago and is still just to the right of me here in our own cellars whilst I type! (it still remains one of the World’s biggest selling rosé wines!).

Here we are in the south of Portugal, the Alentejo region and an estate owned by the Symington family (who also happen to sell over 1/3 of the premium ports sold in the world), so not a bad stat to have.

Made from some of my favourite sounding grape varieties ‘Alicante Bouchet’ (red grape juice) and ‘Aragonez’ (aka – Tempranillo) it always reminds me of Lord Aragorn from Lord of the Rings; similar in style, dark, rich, thick skinned and oozes warmth, depth and charm – or so we can imagine. So, back to this wine… it’s remarkably approachable and again has freshness, herbal acidity from the acidity in Alicante bouchet but the depth, structure and hint of spice from the Aragonez grape. Drink at BBQs (weather permitting) 14.5 vol%.