Carlos Raposo Vinhos Imperfeitos 'Ideal' Tinto Dão 2018

Ideal is Vinhos Imperfeitos' more approachable red, drawn from the Senhorim sub-region where the vines run from thirty to sixty years old, mostly single-variety plots of the Dão's classics — Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro and Jaen.

Hand-harvested into 15 kg crates to keep the fruit intact. Fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel, then malolactic and ageing in French oak barrels; after tasting through every barrel, the "ideal" ones were chosen to compose a harmonious, authentic blend.

Bright ruby and well concentrated. Young, rich and complex on the nose — red and wild fruits, raspberry and cherry to the fore, with a wet-stone mineral note and a whisper of smoke from the oak. Fine and elegant in the mouth, with integrated tannins and bright acidity carrying a long, savoury finish; built to develop in bottle.

Region: Dão (Terras de Senhorim), Portugal
Grape Varieties: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, Jaen and others
Vineyards: 30–60 years, granite, 400–700 m
Winemaking: Stainless-steel ferment; aged in French (Puligny-Montrachet) oak
Vegan friendly: Yes

Carlos Raposo, born in the Dão, studied seven years in Bordeaux and Burgundy before spending nearly a decade as Dirk Niepoort's winemaker, shaping icons like Batuta, Coche and Redoma Reserva. In 2018 he returned home to found Vinhos Imperfeitos — "imperfect is perfect" — a tiny, allocation-only range from centenarian Dão vineyards, farmed by ancestral methods and made with almost no intervention: native-yeast ferments, ageing in Puligny-Montrachet barrels and the winery's 1962 concrete vats. His whites became the highest-scored dry Portuguese whites ever (Decanter, 97 points).