FitaPreta Vinhos Tinto (Red) Vinho Alentejano 2017

Wine Type:
Style of Wine:	Big & Bold
Country of Origin:	Portugal
Wine Region:	Alentejo
Grape Varietal:	Aragónez, Trincadeira, and Alicante Bouschet
Bottle Format:	750mL
Case Size:	12 bottles
$300.00 Per Case ($25.00/btl) Add to Cart

Tasting Notes

Varietals: 40% Aragones, 30% Alicante Bouschet, 30% Trincadeira

Alcohol: 14.5%

Yield: 40 hl/ha, 6,000 kg/ha, 2.7 tons/acre

Terroir: Grapes develop and mature in the hot and dry Mediterranean climate of the southern Portuguese plateau.The cool nights serve to retain acidity. Soils are infertile rocky schists, producing naturally low yields of concentrated, healthy fruit.

Vineyard Management: Production follows a protocol of sustainable agri- culture and yield is controlled and quality improved by hard pruning, removal of secondary shoots, and bunch thinning. At optimum maturity the grapes are handpicked in small boxes permitting the quality-control steps of bunch selection in the vineyard and on the sorting table.

Vinification and Ageing: After sorting and crushing the grapes are conveyed by gravity into small vats and fermented at 27oC by only indigenous yeast. Post fermentation maceration lasts for 15 days. 50% of the wine is matured in second and third year French oak barrels for 9 months.

Tasting note:

Deep ruby-violet, with a generous aroma of warm red fruits, discreet notes of toast and spice and a refreshing touch of eucalyptus. Mouth-filling, ripe and refreshing. Serve at 16C with well flavored grilled red meats.

Critical Praise

2017 has not yet been rated but the 2015 vintage received 90 points from Wine Advocate:

"The 2015 Tinto is a blend of 40% Aragonez, 30%, Trincadeira and 30% Alicante Bouschet. About 50% of the wine was aged in used French oak for nine months, with the rest in stainless steel. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. This bottling is always a good buy from Fitapreta, but this one had me wondering if it was the best-ever regular Tinto. I rather enjoyed the 2014, its immediate predecessor. That was a super effort in a tough vintage. If you want to see the difference between a more normal year and that, though, here you go. The difference is fruit flavor. While the 2014s tend to be dry and stern, this is bursting with vivid, but very clean fruit. Elegant, perfectly constructed and just a little tightly wound in its youth, this is irresistible. It's a beautiful performance in an easy-to-drink red that can hold up to food. It can fit into that "summer red" category, too, but its structure may make it even a bit better than that. In short, I have to lean up on this right now. It may not turn into anything much more and may not stay at peak for all of its useful life, but it is quite a buy at the moment. Drink 2017 - 2026." - 90 points (Mark Squires, Wine Advocate, Apr 28, 2017)