Herdade de Sao Miguel Tinto 2017/18

Herdade de Sao Miguel Tinto, full bodied, energetic, cassis, toast, Portuguse red. The red from Herdade de Sao Miguel is a delicious blend of Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The Cabernet lends that touch of blackcurrant, and the Touriga Nacional picks up nicely on the touch of oak that the wine receives to give it a nice toasty character without being in any way overkill. Despite being full bodied and concentrated, it still manages to retain freshness and drinkability. An excellent value bottle of red from this producer.

The Herdade was acquired by Alexandre Relvas of Casa Relvas in 1997, and he runs the estate with renowned consultant Luis Duarte. It is situated in the municipality of Redondo, covering a sprawling 175hectares of total area, of which 35 are planted with vines on loam soils. 97 of the remaining hectares contain cork trees, planted between 1998 and 1999, and the rest of the estate is dedicated to the breeding and conservation of local species in extinction such as the 'Mirandela' donkey and the 'Garrano' horses of Gerês, that in the old times were great agriculture tools and now are in extinction due to the take over of automation in agriculture. There is some excellent winemaking taking place here, using traditional grape varieites and methods.