"Wonderfully fruited and beautifully lifted, the bouquet shows blackcurrant, dark plum, smoked game, olive and toasted nut characters, leading to a succulent palate that is plump and fleshy. The wine offers excellent depth and intensity, backed by firm tannins, finishing long and sturdy. At its best: now to 2022" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Dec 2018

Deep, crimson colour. This Altano red reveals scented floral aromas and focused, fresh fruit. Simultaneously full and silky on the palate, well defined red fruit flavours come to the fore, enveloped in soft, ripe tannins and spicy notes. Generous, wellstructured and elegant.

This Altano DOC Douro red wine is made from a combination of several traditional Douro grape varieties sourced from the Symington family’s Douro Valley vineyards, principally those located in the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior subregions. The fruit comes from the family Quintas in the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior. Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca.

An unseasonably warm winter and unseasonably cool spring — both exceptionally wet — were followed by one of the hottest summers on record. At the end of August 40% more accumulated rainfall than the 30-year average was recorded in the Douro and these water reserves attenuated the effects of the very hot and dry summer. Timely rain came to the rescue during two days in late August, refreshing the vines straining from the heat and putting maturations back on track. Phenolic ripeness was reached with relatively low Baumés, proving excellent for balanced, elegant wines. Two days of opportune rainfall in mid-September were followed by dry, sunny weather for the remainder of the vintage and the grapes were picked in very fine condition.

The wine is fermented in stainless steel vats with pumping over and soft macerations at low temperatures (23-25°C) aiming to extract colour and aromas and limit tannin extraction in order to produce a wine that favours fresh, floral aromatics and ripe fruit flavours. Aged in stainless steel vats and used 400 litre French and American oak barrels. Bottled from April 2018. Ready for immediate consumption, although the wine has the potential to continue developing favourably in the bottle until 2020.