Vale Dona Maria Old Vines Red 2022

The old vines of Quinta Vale D. Maria are divided into different plots, and each plot is hand-harvested. The grapes are selected before entering the winery. They are destemmed and trodden in lagares for 1 to 3 days before fermentation, which takes place in lagar and/or stainless steel tanks. In the lagar, the wines are foot-trodden every night; in stainless steel tanks, manual pump-overs are done. The wines are then racked into new 225-liter French oak barrels from various cooperages (Seguin Moreau, François Fréres, Taransaud, Nadaliee Berthomieu), where malolactic fermentation occurs. All wines then age for 21 months in French oak barrels (70% new barrels and 30% one-year-old barrels), with the different lots obtained from each fermentation kept completely separate until the final blend composition, about one month before bottling. Varieties: A blend of 41 different grape varieties