A single-vineyard Alicante Bouschet wine aged in tonels 3 and 4, two handsome wood casks big enough to walk through. The wine is only released in selected years. This vintage, now almost mature, shows both aging potential and great power as well as elegance. There is a fine juicy character that gives it unique freshness while it matures. Drink now or just wait until 2024.
97 Mark Squires - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Tinto Tonel No. 3-4 was aged for 40 months in large Portuguese and Brazilian tonels, then held back for 22 months in bottle. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. When last seen, this was brilliant. It is on track and developing well. Dark and more closed, this lacks the lively and fresher style of the regular Estate Tinto (either the 2014 or the 2015), but it has more power and plenty of depth. The flavor profile is perhaps not quite as enticing, as it is acquiring a bit of a darker feel, but this is well done. It is a long-term wine that is nowhere close to finishing its development. It is also not at peak. Grab some if you can find it and have a cellar. There will be, I'm told, a small amount of Tonel No. 3-5 in 2015, but nothing after that until 2021.
Product Description:
"The Reynolds family created strong ties with Portuguese viticulture, with Williams Reynolds taking on the role as President of the National Committee against Phylloxera in the 1880’s. In the late 1800’s, John Reynolds, having got wind of the radical viticultural developments taking place in southern France, contacted viticulturists and grapevine breeders at Domaine La Calmette, near Montpelier. “The Midi, not Bordeaux or Burgundy …(was) where the greatest technical progress in wine making took place in the nineteenth century” (Rosemary George, MW). Around this time, two professors from Montpellier visited Mouchão, bringing with them cuttings of a new teinturier grape, Alicante Bouschet, created by Henri Bouschet in 1855. An 1894 map of the estate shows Alicante Bouschet was already established in the Dourada vineyard.It is in hot and dry climates that Alicante Bouschet best expresses itself. This noble variety thrives in the deep, alluvial, well-drained soils of the valley floors of Mouchão. These conditions are unique and irreplaceable throughout the Alentejo. "- Winery
Approximately half the grapes produced on the property are Alicante Bouschet.
