Here is Gilman’s review of his #1 Portuguese red (and wine) this year:
João Afonso purchased his small estate in the northern, higher altitude Portalegre section of Alentejo in 2009. The region is home to some of the oldest, pre-phylloxera vines in all of Portugal. His Vira Cabeças Tinto is made all from very old vines, with this field blend including many, many vines over one hundred years of age. The wine is fermented in lagar and raised in older Bordeaux barrels for eighteen months prior to bottling. The 2019 Vira Cabeças Tinto comes in at an even thirteen percent octane in this vintage and offers up a stunning nose of sweet dark berries, black cherries, gamebird, raw cocoa, a beautiful base of stony soil tones, woodsmoke and a gentle framing of cedary oak from the older casks. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and refined, with superb depth at the core, ripe, fine-grained tannins, lovely focus and balance and a very long, complex and extremely classy finish. This is a young wine and will need some cellaring to soften up its backend tannins, but it is going to be simply stunning once it is ready to drink! 2033-2075+.
Keep in mind, this is already drinking well enough that it was the overall highest scored (by our customers) wine in any of our recent series of Portuguese wine tastings.
Now also just imagine how much this rare treasure would cost if it was from anywhere else.
