The 2018 Cabeças do Reguengo Alentejo Seiva is a hidden gem from Portugal's high-altitude Serra de São Mamede, where bush vines over a century old grow un-trellised to produce a wine of remarkable depth and character. This rare field blend—featuring Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, Aragonez, and Castelão—is made with minimal intervention: native yeast fermentation in a 2,000-liter vat, followed by 23 months in well-seasoned French oak. The result is a wine with layered aromatics of wild herbs, dark berries, and spice underpinned by firm but polished tannins. If you love the refined power of a top-tier Northern Rhône Syrah where freshness and structure intertwine—this is an exciting, distinctive alternative and, as Gilman notes in his review, could be snuck into a blind Cote-Rotie tasting. The Seiva is excellent now but will age effortlessly for another decade. These are some of the only bottles in the USA, and it's one of the most impressive new red finds we have tasted in some time that shows Portugal is making some serious world-class wines at reasonable pricing. Make sure to read Gilman's review on our site!
John Gilman 94+ points! "João Afonso’s Seiva bottling is another field blend of very old, bush vines. The fruit comes from a combination of six different small, ancient parcels, with roughly fourteen different grape varieties planted here (one thinks). Some of the grapes are know, with much of the blend comprised of Alicante Bouschet, with smaller percentages of Aragonez, Trincadeira and Castelão among the other varieties in the blend. There are also small percentages of white grapes included in the blend, so one might think of this as a high altitude, Côte-Rôtie-like bottling from Alentejo! The wine includes some whole clusters and is raised in older Burgundy casks. The 2018 Seiva is 13.5 percent octane and delivers a deep, black fruity and utterly refined bouquet of dark berries, cassis, smoked meats, coffee bean, stony soil tones, just a whisper of leafy botanicals (from the Alicante Bouschet), a touch of violet, graphite and a gentle framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, black fruity and meaty in personality, with a sappy core of fruit, excellent soil signature, ripe, fine-grained tannins, impeccable balance and a long, focused and very complex finish. I would love to slip this stunning wine into a blind Côte-Rôtie tasting a decade down the road! (Drink between 2034-2075)"
2018 Cabeças do Reguengo Alentejo Seiva
2018 Cabeças do Reguengo Alentejo Seiva
The 2018 Cabeças do Reguengo Alentejo Seiva is a hidden gem from Portugal's high-altitude Serra de São Mamede, where bush vines over a century old grow un-trellised to produce a wine of remarkable depth and character. This rare field blend—featuring Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, Aragonez, and Castelão—is made with minimal intervention: native yeast fermentation in a 2,000-liter vat, followed by 23 months in well-seasoned French oak. The result is a wine with layered aromatics of wild herbs, dark berries, and spice underpinned by firm but polished tannins. If you love the refined power of a top-tier Northern Rhône Syrah where freshness and structure intertwine—this is an exciting, distinctive alternative and, as Gilman notes in his review, could be snuck into a blind Cote-Rotie tasting. The Seiva is excellent now but will age effortlessly for another decade. These are some of the only bottles in the USA, and it's one of the most impressive new red finds we have tasted in some time that shows Portugal is making some serious world-class wines at reasonable pricing. Make sure to read Gilman's review on our site!
John Gilman 94+ points! "João Afonso’s Seiva bottling is another field blend of very old, bush vines. The fruit comes from a combination of six different small, ancient parcels, with roughly fourteen different grape varieties planted here (one thinks). Some of the grapes are know, with much of the blend comprised of Alicante Bouschet, with smaller percentages of Aragonez, Trincadeira and Castelão among the other varieties in the blend. There are also small percentages of white grapes included in the blend, so one might think of this as a high altitude, Côte-Rôtie-like bottling from Alentejo! The wine includes some whole clusters and is raised in older Burgundy casks. The 2018 Seiva is 13.5 percent octane and delivers a deep, black fruity and utterly refined bouquet of dark berries, cassis, smoked meats, coffee bean, stony soil tones, just a whisper of leafy botanicals (from the Alicante Bouschet), a touch of violet, graphite and a gentle framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, black fruity and meaty in personality, with a sappy core of fruit, excellent soil signature, ripe, fine-grained tannins, impeccable balance and a long, focused and very complex finish. I would love to slip this stunning wine into a blind Côte-Rôtie tasting a decade down the road! (Drink between 2034-2075)"
