Quinta da Fonte Souto Vinha do Souto, Alentejo

Description

Quinta da Fonte Souto Vinha do Souto is the flagship red wine produced by The Symington Family at their new wine estate the Alentejo in Southern Portugal. This excellent Alentejo red wine is a blend of the finest parcels of Alicante Bouschet and Syrah. 2017 is the first vintage.

Quinta da Fonte Souto Branco is The Symington Family’s first property outside of the Douro region. The Symington’s are best known as Port and Douro wine producers and own Grahams, Dows and Warres Port Houses, amongst others. The 207 hectare Quinta da Fonte Souto estate is situated along the slopes of the Sao Mamede range near Portalegre. It is located at an altitude of over 500 metres above sea level. The higher than average altitude with its cooler microclimate is quite a contrast to the Alentejo region’s typically hot and dry conditions. There are 43 hectares of vineyards planted on schist and granite soils which are much less fertile than those found in the flat and rolling terrain which characterizes the majority of the Alentejo. Grape varieties planted are typical of the region and are mainly Aragones, Alfrocheiro, Trincadeira, Alicante Bouschet, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It is name “souto”, the Portuguese name for a wooded area planted with chestnut trees – there is a large chestnut grove at the estate.

The grapes for the Quinta da Fonte Souto Vinha do Souto are hand-harvested into small, shallow boxes to ensure that the grapes arrive at the estate’s winery in perfect condition. The grapes are manually sorted, de-stemmed and then undergo a gentle crushing. The grapes are then transferred to fermentation vats where each fermentation is individually monitored and the temperature and macerations are adjusted to maximise the potential of each fermenting batch. The grapes sourced from the property’s finest vineyard parcels are vinified in smaller capacity fermentation vats, worked manually with cap submersion and post fermentation maceration to encourage the extraction of some tannin from the pips to complement those extracted from the grape skins. This adds structure and longevity to the wines. Winemakers are Charles Symington, Pedro Correia and José Daniel Soares (who is the estate’s resident winemaker).

The 2017 Quinta da Fonte Souto Vinha do Souto is a blend of 52% Alicante Bouschet and 48% Syrah. 80% of the blend aged 11 months in new French oak barrels (65% 400L and 35% of 225L) and 20% in second year barrels. The wine is was bottled in March 2019. 785 dozen bottles produced.

Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.