Cartuxa Pera Manca 2014

A powerful red, with sinewy tannins structuring the focused yet dense core of blackberry and dried currant flavors, flanked by cedar, iron and Earl Grey tea accents. A thread of baking spice and espresso adds a touch of richness through the long, mineral-driven finish. Trincadeira and Aragonez.

The Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, a charity foundation, owns two wineries and farms more than 1,000 acres of vines, selecting its best red grapes for this blend of trincadeira and aragonez. Pedro Baptista ferments it in 12,000-liter oak vats and ages it for 18 months in 3,000-liter oak vats, then for 36 months in bottle in the cellars of the Cartuxa monastery, near the town of Evora. It’s an ambitious wine, often the sort that collectors in Lisbon might understand better than foreigners. This vintage is more accessible, a rich, warm wine of the Alentejo plain, smoky with black-currant-skin tannins and the kind of smooth texture that you’d expect at the price. James Conley of Keens Steakhouse in NYC described it as “duck fat, blood and lavender,” and it would work well with a fatty seared duck breast rubbed with herbs.