This ruby red Quinta dos Carvalhais Dão Colheita Tinto offers a harmonious symphony of flavours. Enjoy the aromas of blackberry, plum, and violet, spiced with a subtle menthol freshness. Its velvety tannins create a smooth mouthfeel and the vibrant acidity carries juicy fruit flavours onto an elegant finish. Perfect for any occasion.

About the Producer

Quinta dos Carvalhais is a beautiful estate in the Terras de Senhorim sub-region of the Dão and is one of the region's most respected producers. Purchased in 1988 by Sogrape, a huge amount of investment has gone into the estate, which combines the most up-to-date viticultural and winemaking techniques with age-old traditions, resulting in unique wines with great elegance and personality. In addition to investing in their own vineyards, Quinta dos Carvalhais has also been instrumental in defending the interests of local winegrowers and for pioneering the quality revolution in the Dão region. The talented Beatriz Cabral de Almeida is head winemaker and makes a very impressive range of single-varietal wines and interesting blends from the estate vineyards

Vineyard and Winery

This 105-hectare estate, situated at an altitude of 465-500 metres, has 50 hectares under vine on predominantly granite soils. Warm days and cool nights at this altitude slow down the grape ripening process and result in wines with lovely depth yet vibrant fruit and a signature freshness. Precision viticulture is carried out on the estate with a multitude of different plots matched to specific grape varieties and harvested at different times. The fruit for the 2021 Encruzado was sourced from four different plots. Two cooler plots, one next to the lake on the estate and another often shaded by the oak trees, deliver a vibrant acidity the blend. Another plot with more sandy soils produces intensely aromatic grapes. All of the vineyards are farmed sustainably and harvesting is carried out by hand.

The grapes were hand harvested by grape variety and by plot into 20kg boxes. Upon arrival at the winery the grapes were destemmed, crushed and then gravity fed into stainless-steel fermentation tanks. The different grape varieties were fermented separately for around eight days at an average temperature of 27ºC. 70% of the wine was aged in 225-litre used French oak barrels for eight months, the remainder in stainless steel tanks. At the end of this period, the final blend was assembled, and the wine was fined and filtered before bottling.