Borges Grande Reserva Red Wine

Reviews and awards:
18 points Grandes Escolhas Wine.

A complex and elaborate wine that reflects Borges' more than 130 years of experience.

Borges Grande Reserva wines reflect the tradition and experience of over 130 years of history in the production of unique wines. The nobility of this Borges Grande Reserva lineage dates back to 1904, the year the founders acquired Quinta da Soalheira. The elegance of the old vines and the character of the new vines manifest themselves in a complex and striking personality, resulting from the careful selection of the best grapes that survive a demanding environment, characterized by excellent sun exposure: the essence of the name 'Soalheira'. Produced only in exceptional years, the Borges Grande Reserva Douro Tinto 2015 reflects a year of excellent quality and great balance. The 2014-2015 wine year was characterized by a dry year at Quinta da Soalheira, with a cold winter and an unusually warm spring, followed by a mild summer, with only a few temperature peaks recorded. The grapes ripened smoothly, and the rainfall before the harvest helped to improve their final quality, resulting in wines with intense color, smooth tannins, excellent acidity levels, and great longevity.

Winemaking :
Total destemming of the grapes followed by gentle crushing. Part of the batch is initially vinified using the traditional lagar method with foot treading, finishing fermentation in stainless steel tanks, while the remaining batch is vinified only in stainless steel tanks. In both vinifications, a brief pre-fermentation maceration is carried out, followed by fermentation on the skins for 6-8 days at a controlled temperature of 28-30 ºC with relatively frequent pump-overs. After alcoholic fermentation, a maceration period takes place, after which the wine is separated from the solids with which it fermented, and finally malolactic fermentation is induced. All the wine ages in French oak barrels for 30 months and 4 months in the bottle.