The 2021 Cabeças do Reguengo Vira Cabeças Tinto, is one of our top red wine discoveries in the past year and is a sensational overachiever. A field blend sourced from multiple pre-phylloxera vineyards at 1,800 to 2,000 feet in Portalegre, Alentejo—one of the few regions in southern Portugal that escaped the shift to mechanized viticulture following the fall of Salazar. The rugged, high-altitude terrain preserved its ancient mixed-planted vineyards, allowing for wines with Alentejo’s richness but with northern-like minerality and freshness. João Afonso, founder of Cabeças do Reguengo in 2009, employs regenerative farming with minimal soil disturbance and minimal vine treatments. This cuvée, emphasizing Trincadeira for lifted aromatics and precision, ferments in traditional open-top fermentation vats called lagar with partial stem inclusion before aging for about 18 months in used 225L French oak barrels. The result is a structured yet elegant wine, balancing deep complexity with the energy of its mountain terroir. This has beautifully high-toned aromatics like that of a refined red Burgundy, along with impressive fruit, mineral drive, and elegance. It's a serious bottle for the money from one of Portugal's most hidden gems, and we have some of the only bottles currently available in the USA.