In the amazing Avis, one of the most beautiful villages of Alto Alentejo, very close to the Maranhão dam, lay the estates of the Rovisco Garcia family, the jewel of the cork oak forest, where the olive grove and the vineyards find unique conditions to grow. The wines are full of personality and pay tribute to a terroir blessed with a rigorous and demanding winemaking and oenology.
Some brands are born as the ultimate testimony of a family, of its connection to the land and the inexorable passing of time. For the Rovisco Garcia family, that knows the Avis region for almost a century, it was only natural to turn 28 hectares of one their estates into vineyards to cultivate local and other vine varieties that could originate landmark wines in Alto Altentejo: Aragonês, Syrah, Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Arinto and Antão Vaz. Furthermore, efficient climate and soil moisturing monitoring systems and a drip irrigation one were installed and have been assuring, for almost twenty years, this triumphal investment.
The portfolio from the Rovisco Garcia estate gathers some of the most appreciated references from the Alentejo region. It starts with a 2015 white, citrus, fresh and intense; with a rosé of the same year made of Aragonês and Touriga Nacional, crystalline red, salmon colored, balanced, fresh and fruity, with hints of red berries and a vibrant aftertaste; and a 2012 red that was awarded with a bronze medal in the International Wine Challenge.
Rising up in quality, we find a Tinto Reserva that has gathered some trophies in the same Festival, in Decanter and in Mundus Vini: Critic João Paulo Martins praises it for its lively aroma, the god hints of ripe black fruits and ends with “strong and polished in the mouth, we have a full-bodied red, spicy with green hints, with good acidity and fine tannins”, giving it the excellent classification of 16,5.
Also very good is the Superior Tinto 2011, recognized in international festivals by its interesting blend of five vine varieties that give it its intense personality, mysterious, ready to unravel in time, a very elegant and sober wine.
João Paulo Martins celebrates the concentration of its aromas, its volume and the “obvious presence of black fruits, dark chocolate, mulberries, chemical hints”.
On the outskirts of Avis, a place where history and landscape are combined in a fascinating way with the ways of the country life, the words Rovisco Garcia are pronounced with respect, fervor and reverence. More than a family name, they assure a bridge into the future, both for the wines and for the life of that beautiful region.
