M.O.B. Lote 3 Dão Tinto

Three great Portuguese winemakers. One beautifully understated Dão.
The Dão does not shout for attention. Tucked into central Portugal, beneath the Serra da Estrela, it is a region where altitude, granite soils and cool mountain air naturally favour freshness and elegance over sheer power. M.O.B. Lote 3 was created specifically to capture that character — a modern interpretation of the lighter, more graceful Dão wines that inspired its three founders.

M.O.B. stands for Moreira, Olazabal & Borges: Jorge Moreira, Francisco Olazabal and Jorge Serôdio Borges, three winemakers better known for some of Portugal's most respected wines from the Douro. Their shared fascination with older Dão wines led them south to vineyards around Seia and Gouveia, where altitude and granite create conditions particularly well suited to making fresh, characterful reds.

Lote 3 brings together three of the region's classic varieties — Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro and Jaen. It is fermented gently in stainless steel before spending 12 months in 225-litre oak barrels, giving the wine additional depth while preserving the freshness of the fruit. For wine drinkers in Ireland accustomed to fuller Portuguese reds, this is a fascinating change of pace: elegant and finely textured rather than heavy, with ripe red and dark fruit, herbs, spice and a distinctly savoury mineral character.

Why we love it:
This is the sort of Portuguese red that rewards a little attention without demanding it. Fresh, refined and wonderfully fluid, it combines ripe fruit and subtle oak with the fine tannins and lively acidity that make the Dão such an underrated source of elegant reds.