Natalia Jessa’s first career was wine buying for Tesco in England. When she moved to Portugal, she saw an opportunity to help small organic farmers throughout the country to get their wines to market. This appealing Dão Tinto is one result of her efforts, a remarkable wine for a very fair price. Farmed organically towards the bottom of the wide and warm Dão valley, this vineyard would be too hot to produce compelling wines without the daily Atlantic winds that filter through the region to restrain the summertime heat. The wine is a blend of Jaen – the Portuguese version of Mencia – with small proportions of Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro, and other more obscure grapes. Hand harvested and aged in a mix of cement and neutral oak, this is a sumptuously rich and fruit forward wine. The nose shows marionberry and inky black plum accented with orange peel and granite, before a palate of black raspberries and plums and smoked orange peels and granite laced soil. Lush textured but light on its feet, this is a great wine for charcuterie boards at your next party, but it will serve just as well with mid-week leftovers.