Herdade do Rocim "Mariana" 2023

We’ve heard from so many of you about vacationing in Portugal and enjoying its red wines that we wanted to be a part of the fun too! So a couple of seminars ago and a whole lot of wine later—plus a bit more research on top of that—I came to this producer. In other words, I spent a good amount of energy finding this beauty. 

I can’t resist adding history into wine tasting notes, so here goes. Under the Franco years, the only wineries that were allowed to exist were ones that A) were loyal to the Franco government; and B) glorified Portugal via exported products. One result of this is you get little family plots of vineyards, where the wine was essentially homemade and kept at home, because they weren’t allowed to commercialize production. 

To my understanding, the Rocim estate started this way, and it was eventually purchased by a Portuguese agricultural machinery magnate whose daughter eventually inherited it as a winemaker. A few years later, along comes a viticulturist who does the proper thing - by marrying the owner's daughter, he creates a partnership in winemaking and life. 

I love this wine for its rich and warm, spicy fruits, which inspires imaginations of the gorgeous views of Portugal’s countryside. Some old-school Portuguese reds were full and sometimes even jammy on the palate, but this one has beautiful lifted aromatics, a sense of delicacy in its richness, and poise and balance on the finish. If you drink it slowly, it will unwind and draw you into an bewitchingly complex experience.