Júlio Bastos: red hot single varietal Petit Verdot & Alicante Bouschet

It’s a good long while since I visited Júlio Bastos/Dona Maria’s beautiful estate and converted old winery with its marble lagares in Estremoz, Alentejo.  We recently  exchanged emails about Dona Maria Grande Reserva 2010 – a blend of Alicante Bouschet, Syrah and Petit Verdot – which I showed at last month’s Decanter World Wine Awards’ masterclass at The Yeatman Hotel, Oporto.  Bastos was there and was as keen for me to taste his latest single varietal releases of Alicante Bouschet and Petit Verdot as I was to taste them.

I well remember tasting a very exciting 2009 tank sample of Petit Verdot during my visit that year and his 2004 Alicante Bouschet.  When we were discussing the masterclass, Bastos told me about his admiration for these two grapes, the former of which he reckons is “is going to be the Alicante Bouschet of the 21st century.”  Which in his book is good news.

The producer explained “I am so fond of Alicante Bouschet because this grape was brought to Portugal by my family during the 19th century….Since I was a child I grew up listening to those stories about Alicante Bouschet and that makes me go on with the tradition together with Mouchão wines that belong to the same family.”

In fact, he added, this fondness for the grape was also “one of the reasons I sold my shares of the joint venture [Quinta do Carmo label] with the Rothschild (Lafite) in the 2000 – because they wanted to uproot the first vineyard of Alicante Bouschet planted in Portugal, a pre-phylloxera vineyard!!!” 

Júlio Bastos Dona Maria Petit Verdot 2013 (Vinho Regional Alentejano)