£13.50
Single Estate red from the Obidos region. Castelão (60%), Aragonez (20%),Touriga Nacional (20%) are aged for 12 months in French and American oak barrels. This was my pick of the family’s three estate wines. Maybe it’s the Touriga Nacional which gives it an almost violet fruit over and above the soft, oakiness. It has won Gold at four separate competitions this year.
Red Blends
Oakey Reds
Portugal
2018
750 ml
13-13.5%Out of stock
Single Estate red from the Obidos region. Castelão (60%), Aragonez (20%),Touriga Nacional (20%) are aged for 12 months in French and American oak barrels. This was my pick of the family’s three estate wines. Maybe it’s the Touriga Nacional which gives it an almost violet fruit over and above the soft, oakiness. It has won Gold at four separate competitions this year.
Selected from the best parts of the vineyard, this is a blend of Syrah, Carignan and Mourverdre. Each varietal is kept apart and aged in 500 litre oak barrels for 12 months. Only then do they decide upon the final blend. Once made, the finished wine is aged for yet another 12 months in those same barrels before bottling. Only 10% of the barrels are new wood, so there’s no “in your face ” oakiness here!
Diane only releases this wine if she feels it is up to her highest standards of quality. So, no 2002 vintage ‘ it was all sold off in bulk to the ‘négociants’. The 2003 vintage was a cracker. No 2004 vintage either; that, too, was not good enough, the 2005, 2007 and 2009s brilliant…as was the 2011.
And then along came the equally scrumptious 2103, and the super 2015 and the fab 2017, and now the 2020. What more can I say? Drink now to 2029 (really!)
£16.00
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This wine was the very first one we had recommended in the national press when we started the business back in 2006.
The new 2021 vintage is arguably even better, I love it. Think creamy rich white Cotes du Rhone. Three months in barrel just to soften it out a bit and give a rich, soft nicely balanced white wine that will go really well with your Sunday roast.
Recommended by Jancis Robinson: “Lots of interest here.”
Previous vintages RECOMMENDED IN THE OBSERVER. The 2009 vintage displays a beautiful balance and is as good a white from the south of France as you will see anywhere. 50% of the blend is barrel-fermented Roussanne; the rest is unoaked Grenache Blanc and Rolle. It is a rich wine with an excellent balance of oak and will be perfect with your Sunday roast.
£16.00
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Anarkos Rosso di Puglia
The label is attention-seeking, as is the bright red plastic cork (not my favourite closure, I must admit, but the wine insisted I buy it! The wine has attitude and is a provocative one, railing against the plight of the region (see their website). The region reminds me of the Languedoc in France – loads of rubbish wines but increasing numbers of fanatics making really top wines as they should be made. This was one of my favourite winery visits af the last few years. The wine is made from a blend of the local varieties Primitivo, Negro Amaro and Malvasia Nera and should be consumed in conspiratorial bars in the south of Italy with huge helpings of pasta.
Previous vintages recommended; Recommended in The Daily Telegraph: “another one of Mark Hughes’ brilliant finds. Absolutely delicious blend of Primitivo, Negro Amaro and Malvasia. Lush and plush like velvet, also juicy, scented, intense, rich brimming with the smell of violets, deep purple plums and bitter cherries. Such a joy!
Recommended by Oz Clarke as one of his 250 best wines of 2012: “an excellent example of how southern Italian reds are starting to express their own fabulous originality. It’s bulging with youth and it’s soft, yet tempered by a nice edgy bitterness.”
£14.00
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