Alentejo
Portugal's sunny plains
- Soil
- Schist, granite and clay across hot, open plains (and cork-oak country).
- Style
- Ripe, generous, fruit-forward reds and increasingly good whites; soft and approachable.
- Top sites
- Sub-zones include Borba, Reguengos, Vidigueira; around Évora.
- Vintages
- 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
- Producers
- Herdade do MouchãoCortes de Cima
Tip · Hot, flat and sunny — the opposite of the Douro's vertical drama. Alentejo makes Portugal's most crowd-pleasing, ripe, supple reds.
Value pick
Esporão 'Reserva' Tinto · ~$25
The benchmark modern Alentejo red from its leading estate — ripe, polished, structured and dependable.
Collector pick
Herdade do Mouchão 'Tonel 3-4' · ~$120 · 2015
A historic, traditionally made Alentejo flagship — rare, long-lived and collected.