Entre Serras is a true mountain wine, the altitude of the vineyards bringing a slightly cooler profile to the local grape varieties that make up the final blend. Ruby red in colour, it has a well integrated aRoma with notes of plum with light wood. In the mouth it has a good volume with acidity and balanced tannins where red aromas stand out, making the wine elegant. The family behind it is famous in Portugal – the descendants of a renowned historical diarist, Almeida Garrett.
Almeida Garrett
This estate belongs to a famous Portuguese family, descendants of Almeida Garrett, a renowned diarist, rather like our own Samuel Pepys though he was also a poet and soldier. The family vineyards are in the Beira Interior region in eastern Portugal, running between Alentejo and the Douro, and lie on granitic soils in the hills beneath the Serra de Estrela mountain range.
Wine production in this beautiful region centres around two co-operatives, but in 1993 the Almeida Garrett family decided to go it alone and are the only privately owned estate in the region bottling their own wines.
The winemaking is in the hands of José Almeida Garrett and he skilfully blends touriga nacional, tinta roriz (aka tempranillo), syrah, and trincadeira in various combinations and bottles chardonnay as a single varietal.
The climate and altitude in these foothills allow slow even ripening and while the wines have the full flavours that one would expect of modern Portuguese wines they have a delightful vibrancy too.