Our final full day was a cracker! Heading north towards Portalegre, our first destination was to the Symington owned Quinta do Fonte Souto. This estate was acquired by the Symington group quite recently in 2017 and they were quick to invest in the vineyard infrastructure, outbuildings and winery and have thus created a very impressive estate.
Luis Cidade hosted our visit with some great enthusiasm and storytelling as we took a wander around the vines. Portalegre is a cooler zone to the north of the Alentejo and Fonte Souto boasts some impressive hills. While the grape mix was familiar, (Aragonez, Touriga Nacional, Antao Vaz, etc) the style of wines we tasted felt different.
After our walk, we took a look at the historic old cellar and old amphora before settling into their tasting room. We tasted through all their levels which showed a steady progression of quality and delivered a fresher take on the Alentejo style we were used to by now. This really added to our understanding of the region. A light picnic was planned and Luis had cleverly kept this surprise from us as we turned a corner and found a wonderful long table with an abundance of cheeses, meats, breads, olive oil – just enough to keep us going but not too much to spoil dinner.
From Fonte Souto we headed south back towards Évora and stopped at Herdade do Sao Miguel – the original winery of Casa Relvas that they built in 1998. Ana Santos hosted our visit with her charismatic charm and boundless enthusiasm as she took us for a quick walk round the vineyard, into the winery to taste some fermenting juice and then onto the covered terrace for an extraordinary tasting.
Ana had really pushed the boat out as we took in an amazing comparison of two white vintages in magnum, some delicious roses followed by a dazzling array of reserva reds from 2021 back to 2011. This was a truly amazing opportunity to understand how well these high quality Alentejo reds developed over time and the nuances that develop with some bottle age. A terrific visit!
The day was not quite over as dinner beckoned.
We had an hour to turn round before we set off for Restaurante Dom Joaquim – a Michelin recommended establishment on the other side of Évora. We tucked into a mix of traditional pork starters, scrambled eggs and asparagus, little meat pies and followed by shoulder of pork and a crème brule style dessert. All washed down with local wines and a couple of magnums that Ana Santos had given us earlier in the afternoon, a fitting end to a super tour – the last time we will be in the Alentejo this year.