Cortes de Cima
What is sustainable viticulture? Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. At Cortes de Cima we strive towards sustainability in our vineyards in a number of ways.
Since 1996 we have inscribed our vineyards in a program, called Integrated Protection. This program encourages biological diversity and balance, both above and below ground, and recognizes that healthy soils are critical to sustainable systems. This system prefers healthy biological processes over chemical inputs. But where chemicals are used, several techniques are encouraged to ensure that the chemical is the least disruptive, least toxic, and is applied most effectively.
Last, but not least, our Smart Dyson ‘up-down’ trellis system exposes the grapes to the sun and air, to fight fungus and mildew the natural way - with less spraying.
720380 - Chamine 2005
50% Aragonez (Tempranillo), 41% Syrah, 5% Trincadeira, 4% Touriga Nacional.
Great fruit from local Portuguese varieties handpicked at optimum maturity. Fermented without stems at controlled temperature with frequent delestage (rack-and-return). This wine is lightly filtered and bottled early to maintain clean, youthful, ripe fruit flavours. No barrel aging.
Aroma – Attractive spicy ripe red berry and cherry fruit aromatics, showing a nice freshness.
Palate – Sweet, soft juicy fruit on a smooth, round palate. Good supportive tannins giving the wine balance and structure.
This is a medium bodied wine showing generous fruit and excellent mouthfeel, not normally seen in a wine at this price level. It is ready for current drinking but will improve in the bottle over the next 3 years.
720381 - Cortes de Cima 2002
50% Aragonez (Tempranillo), 34% Syrah, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Touriga Nacional, 3% Trincadeira.
Made exclusively from selected grapes hand picked at optimum maturity from our own vineyards. Fermented without stems under temperature control, frequent delestage, followed by extended skin maceration to enhance varietal fruit characters, and to provide tannin structure and balance.
Aged for 12 months in American and French oak barrels, and then blended to give balanced varietal fruit and oak components. Bottled, unfined and filtered in December 2003.
Intense red color, has a fragrant aroma of spicy vanillan oak and red berry fruits with leathery notes. The palate is soft sweet and stylish, with lots of spicy fruit and fine supportive tannins. A richly complex and satisfying wine, it is ready to drink now and over the next 5 years. Enjoy this wine with pasta as well as meat and game dishes.
720382 - Syrah 2003
Made exclusively from selected Syrah grapes hand picked at optimum maturity from chosen sites in our own vineyards. Fermented without stems under temperature control, frequent delestage, followed by extended skin maceration to enhance varietal fruit characters, and to provide tannin structure and balance. Aged for 7 months in French and American oak barrels.
This wine shows a deep purple red colour and the aroma is a vibrant array of soft fruits. The palate is a combination of subtle oak, good acidity and complex tannins. This is a well structured wine, with delicious soft plum and cherry flavours and a lingering finish. It is a fruit driven wine which is drinking well now but will improve with further cellaring.
722229 - Reserva 2003
42% Syrah, 39% Aragonez (Tempranillo), 19% Touriga Nacional.
Made exclusively from selected grapes hand picked at optimum maturity from chosen sites in our own vineyards. Fermented without stems under temperature control, frequent delestage, followed by extended skin maceration to enhance varietal fruit characters, and to provide tannin structure and balance.
Aged for 12 months in new American oak (20%) and new French oak (80%) barrels, and then blended to give balanced varietal fruit and oak components. Bottled, unfined and filtered in June 2005.
The wine shows a heady aroma of ripe plum and berry fruits with toasty oak and spicy vanillin complexity. The palate is big, soft and round, some chocolate, ripe tannins, and well integrated, spicy oak. This is a beautifully balanced wine with seamless layers of fruit and oak on richly textured palate which is supported by a fine tannic structure.
Being well balanced and integrated at an early stage, it is typical of the ripe 2003 harvest, therefore it may be drunk young, but will continue to improve with time in the bottle over the next 7 years.
720383 - Incognito 2003
From the start, Hans and Carrie Jorgensen did things differently from local custom, i.e. planting red wine varieties in a traditionally white wine area, introducing Syrah, (and at the time illegal!), using an untraditional ‘New World’ trellis system - just to name a few. When they bottled their first Syrah varietal in 1998, they were stuck on how to label it, since Syrah was still ‘illegal’ as a ‘Vinho Regional’ grape variety, so they called it ‘Incógnito´.
Aged for 8 months in new American oak (50%) and new French oak (50%). Deep, intense, purple red colour. This Incógnito is an intensely concentrated Syrah, with spicy, peppery aromas of blackberry, licorice, plums and molasses. The palate is rich with huge flavour intensity, with toasty oak tannins. The wine has great length and structure with beautiful balance.
