Howards Folly Alentejano 2007

As a wine-producing country, one of Portugal's great strengths is its diversity. At one extreme lie the fresh, light, zippy Vinho Verde wines from the damp, green, northern Minho, and at the other there are the rich, concentrated red wines from the hot Alentejo in the south, with a whole spectrum of flavours in between. Howards Folly is from the Alentajo, and is a blend of Syrah and Alicante Bouschet - Alicante is a teinturier, a grape with red flesh which originated in France, and Touriga Nacional, which is considered to be Portugal's finest red variety, providing structure and body to the wine, with high tannins and concentrated flavours of black fruit. The wine is aged in new French and American oak for a year, and then spends a year in bottle before release. We suggest decanting this wine prior to serving to allow the flavours to develop out of the bottle.