2022 Cabecas Do Reguengo, Alentejo Portalegre Tinto, Respiro Clarete

Most people think of Alentejo as big, sun-baked red wine country — ripe, warm, and generous. Portalegre, tucked into the Serra de São Mamede mountains at 600 meters, is the exception that reframes the whole conversation.

João Afonso farms century-old, pre-phylloxera vines here — field blends of over a dozen red and white indigenous varieties growing together the way they always have, before modern viticulture decided everything needed to be sorted and separated. Organic farming, traditional polyculture, and a deep respect for what these ancient vines have figured out on their own over the last hundred years.

The Respiro Clarete is something genuinely rare: a co-fermented blend of red and white grapes, naturally fermented in cement, nine weeks of maceration, neutral oak aging. The mountain does the heavy lifting — granite and schist soils, cool nights, wide diurnal swings — keeping the alcohol at a refreshing 11.5% and the acidity lively and precise. The result is lean, pale, and energetic. Fine-grained tannins, high-toned fruit, and a mineral tension that feels more like the Loire than southern Portugal.

This is a springtime red wine and lovely with a chill.