A heavenly tipple that would thrill Nosferatu

published 6 October 2017

2016 A Touriga Vai Nua, Unoaked, Fitapreta Vinhos, Alentejo, Portugal (£15.80, LayWheeler.com).

I know Portugal pretty well and the Alentejo region, to the east of Lisbon, in particular. I have even made wine there a few times, so when a wine comes along that turns an established region, and the Queen of all Portuguese red grapes, on its head, I sit up and listen. Literally "naked touriga", this wine uses Portugal's most famous red grape and strips it of any clothing.

This is inspired because touriga, so often, relies on oak for succour. Vai Nua takes its fruit from infertile, rocky schistous soils, lets it ferment naturally and then only spend three months in steel tanks before bottling it with all of its flavours still raging. This tactic captures all of the vital essence of this variety like never before. Even the alcohol is a shock a lowly 13%, which is bizarre considering that this grape forms the backbone of the finest vintage ports ever made.

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Only 9,900 bottles were made and only a fraction of these have made it to our shores, so phone Lay & Wheeler immediately if you would like to taste this wine. Winemaker Antnio Maanita knows what he is doing and I feel that he might change the paradigm for touriga nacional, because this rose-petal, fresh-blood and liquorice-scented wine is sheer heaven. It is what Nosferatu would drink before a night of light slaughter, and he was a creature of exquisite taste.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.