Maçanita, Irmãos e Enólogos, Douro Tinto

Gorgeous Douro red in that classic, broad, generous style reminiscent of the breadth of the Rhone and the structure of Bordeaux, this comes from a delightful winery set up by siblings (irmãos in Portuguese) from the Maçanita family.

No oak in this wine means that you get full grape flavours of dark bramble fruit, black cherry and notes of crushed rose-petal on the nose. The palate is broad and structured with juicy, ripe tannins and flavours of bramble fruit, blackberry and plums.

António Maçanita is a very widely travelled and well worked winemaker and consultant with projects all over Portugal. This is a lovely story that came to being because he wanted to get to know the great Douro region, but didn't know where or how to begin. He contacted his sister, who is also a winemaker, and she said the same thing! Together they have found parcels of vines and old vineyards that they believe show their own version of the region in the bottles that they produce. These are excellent wines and are focused on the purity of the fruit that the Douro soils are able to yield as well as the charm from the Portuguese climate.

Working in the Cima Corgo and Baixa Corgo subzones of the Douro, this is a project that clearly seeks high quality. These old vineyard plantings are high in altitude and produce fruit of serious quality, not destined for bulk wine production, but for the wineries that have built the reputation that the region enjoys. This is the right ethos for anyone anywhere in the world, but is certainly the only one for a region such as this: there are no weedy, flabby or also-ran wines in the Douro, not really. It's one of the oldest quality wine regions in the world and this project is a very fine addition to its story, as much as the Douro is part of the story of the Maçanitas!

Oh, and fun fact: Sousão is a teinturier variety, which means that it has red skins and red flesh, which is rare. Another "Portuguese" variety (it's actually a French hybrid but is most associated with Portugal) that is teinturier is the excellent Alicante Bouschet, often grown in the Alentejo region.