Despite being the entry-level wine of Quinta Vale D. Maria, this is a seriously impressive red wine. Fruit forward and charmingly smooth in the mouth, the Rufo Tinto opens with rich aromas of sweet red cherries and crushed berries which become cherry jam and blackberry flavours on the palate. The full body is complemented by firm tannins and a long finish which is punctuated with herbal hints.

Made from Portugal’s iconic Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional grape varieties, the Rufo Tinto takes its name from the Latin word for “red” which also happens to mean “drum” in Portuguese. The concept for the wine was conceived at a dinner party after discussions about how the owners could increase the population of red-legged partridges on the estate and adapt their viticultural practices to be more environmentally friendly.

Since the wine comes at the beginning of Quinta Vale D. Maria’s range of wines, it acts as a drum that sets the rhythm for the rest and indicates a new phase in the estate’s long history. The Van Zeller family which own the estate has been producing and shipping Portuguese wines for nearly 250 years and now seek to show the world the potential of these sensational dry wines from Douro.