Palpite 2021

The 2021 Palpite Reserva is a blend of 35% Alicante Bouschet, 25% Aragonez, 17% Castelão, 11% Trincadeira and 12% others, all aged for 18 months in 20% new French oak. It comes in at 14.4% alcohol. Lighter styled, this doesn't show a lot of depth in terms of mouthfeel, but it is fresh and elegant this year, and it finishes with a burst of lovely fruit. Concentrated in flavors, leaning to red and black fruits, this is almost silky in texture and very graceful. The tannins are modest. Whether it can be something more than this with more development is an open question. It seems fairly ready to drink now—and pretty irresistible—but it will certainly improve over a year or two. It will need to prove its case for further plaudits, if it has one, in the cellar. There were 34,000 bottles produced.