Lagar de Darei Tinto 2015

Alcohol: 13.5%

Grape(s): Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, and Jaen

Localization: Portugal

Tasting Notes:  After they are hand picked and sorted, the grapes are de-stemmed to begin a natural fermentation in lagars. A gentle basket press is used to pull the skins aside from the wine, and malolactic fermentation takes place in large, 5000-liter cement vats, where it also rests for 15 months before resting in bottle for a year. The resulting wine is complex and earthy on the nose, yet lifted with fresh bright red cherry and purple flowers. Full in the mouth with soft tannins, bright acidity, and a restrained elegance that is full of pure fruit and earth, this red is as age-worthy as it is drinkable while young.

The Domain: Casa de Darei is a third generation estate of the Ruivo family, and is a gorgeous 150-hectare property nestled in the Dão Valley in the central portion of Portugal, in the municipality of Mangualde. The vast majority of the area is a dedicated natural reserve, with beautiful forests that line the Dão River, verdant farmland for cattle, apple orchards, and 6.8 hectares of organic certified grape vines. Darei is the name of the 40- inhabitant town that the winery sits in, where the total production for the estate is 45,000 bottles annually, focused on the local and indigenous white and red varieties. With a sincere focus on traditionally made wines using old cement lagares and beautiful old presses, the wines are clean, focused, and speak to the terroir of the area. Guanito (bat guano) is all the fertilizer they need on their serradela, white clover, and strawberry clover covered ground, to encourage the healthy growth of their native white and red varieties. Striving to only show the natural terroir of their small region, Casa de Darei is all about the tradition of the area, and not the fashion of the wine world.