History
In the early 19th century,
Thomas Reynolds moved to Alentejo from Oporto, to become involved in the cork
business. Three generations later, his grandson John purchased a 900 hectare
property with two small rivers running through it – Herdade do Mouchao, and
began making wines.
Vineyards were planted in 1901 and he also
built a winery (or adega) with whitewashed walls and a traditional red-tiled
roof. A distillery was added in 1929 where until today the estate’s pomace
brandy is produced.
During the 1950s the estate continued to
produce cork, olives, cereals, as well as rearing pigs and sheep, while the
wine business expanded. Following the 1974 revolution, the property was
expropriated and only returned to the family in 1985, and continued to be run
by the descendants of the original family. The grape varieties are local,
picked by hand and foot-trodden.
Vineyards
The 38 hectares of vines are made up of
several vineyards, with the earliest planting taking place on the flat,
low-lying ground near the winery, best suited for the Alicante Bouschet,
adapting to the clay soil and intense summer heat.
Other vineyards are on higher and
well-drained ground, planted with red varieties like Trincadeira, Aragones,
Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Syrah. A limited number of white varieties
are also planted, including Antao Vaz, Arinto and Perrum.
Winery
The adega is shaded by tall eucalyptus
trees, first built in 1901, and electricity was only installed in 1991. At 6am
in the height of summer the cellar master would arrive to open the windows and
let in fresh air, to be shut again by 9am to keep out the heat.
The interior is cool and dark with beamed
ceilings reaching 15 metres in height, housing 9 stone-treading tanks. The
walls are lined with vats from 2500 to 5500 litres, pipes of 550 litres and
barrels of 225 to 300 litres. In the distillery there is a pot still and a
column still, both heated by wood furnace. Every wine is estate bottled.
Winemaking
The pickers select the grapes into 20 kilo
boxes for transporting to the adega. For the red wine, the grapes are lightly
crushed, without prior destalking, in one of the nine stone treading tanks. For
the white, the grapes are destalked, crushed and fermented at low temperature
in stainless steel tanks. Traditional foot-treading is done twice a day, to
encourage fermentation and color extraction without crushing the pips, and
would continue for 5-8 days.
The juice is then racked off into wooden
vats and barrels for secondary fermentation and settling, with the residual
skins lightly pressed using the original press from 1901. In Feb or Mar the
following year the lotted wines are assessed to determine which brand they go
into.
Mouchao
It is the most important label and flagship
wine, first sold in 1954, made predominantly from Alicante Bouschet with a
small amount of Trincadeira, aged in oak and mahogany vats for 24 months and
only released after another 24-36 months in bottle.
I have recently tasted the 2014 Dom Rafael
Branco and below is my tasting note:
Appearance
Bright
and clear, it has medium lemon color, with wide watery rims and legs.
Nose
Clean, with
medium (+) intensity of citrus fruit of lemon, green fruit of custard apple,
mineral notes of smoke, stony and petrol, autolytic aromas of yeast, some
maturity notes of truffle. The wine is developing.
Palate
Dry,
with medium (+) acidity, the wine has medium alcohol and light body,
demonstrating medium (+) intensity flavors of citrus fruit of lemon, green
fruit of apple, autolytic notes of biscuit, mineral notes of stony and smoke.
The wine has a short finish.
Conclusion
Good
quality Portuguese white with an intense nose of decent complexity, the wine
has plenty of acidity, and a lightness on the palate that is refreshing and
crisp. The flavors are concentrated with also reasonable complexity, though the
finish is a bit too short. Ready to drink now, it is not intended for further
ageing.
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