2015 Escondido Meio E Meio Touriga Jaen

Dão, one of the oldest established Portuguese wine regions, is a mountainous region with a temperate climate located in the north-central region of Portugal, and it’s crisscrossed by the Mondego and Dão rivers. The region became a Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC) appellation in 1990. Escondido Wines is the project of Michael Wren who was a winemaker for one of Portugal's top producers, Esporao, before returning to Australia to open Wren Estate, based in Heathcote. Whilst running their Douro winery, Quinta dos Murcas, Wren sourced grapes from a brilliant vineyard, in the cooler Dao region to the south of the Douro. The Dao is marked by higher altitudes and heavy granite soils and for Wren this region is the true home of Portugal's best known red variety - Touriga Nacional. The Dao produces pretty, structured Touriga Nacional that is bright and blue fruited with fresh acidity with clear mineral notes.

The Escondido Meio e Meio comes from 2015 which was a very cool vintage, so this wine was very tightly wound when first bottled but has opened up beautifully at present. Meio e Meio translates as half/half, referring to the composition of the wine.

50% Touriga Nacional and 50% Jaen (Mencia in Spain) which brings some balancing red fruit and tannin to the blend.