Herdade do Mouchao is thought to have been the first farm to import the Alicante Bouschet variety from France. John Reynolds bought the estate towards the end of the Victorian era and his main purpose was to continue the expansion of the cork dehesas that still make up a large part of this large estate. The estate was - in a fine example of very poor timing - confiscated by the dictatorship in the same month that it was overthrown and it took the Richardsons and Reynolds twelve years to reclaim it. But with many of the old workers or their descendants and with all the elements of continuity and quality in place, Mouchao continues to be a beacon of Alentejo. (19/08/19)