The 2021 Reserva Grande Rocim is the winery's super premium Alicante Bouschet. It comes in at 14.2% alcohol and was aged for 20 months in new French oak. In this lighter-styled vintage in much of Portugal, this shows rather elegantly, with less oak and alcohol than the 2019, the last I saw. It is an understated Grande Rocim but still a lovely one. The freshness stands out here. There is some good fruit, but the precision and the focus coupled with the lift to the fruit make this more interesting than just a ripe fruit bomb. Concentrated but always balanced, this is another pretty Grande Rocim, even if it is on the understated side and a little different. Some may well prefer it this way. At times, I did, but not always. It has a good chance to improve and develop more, and it should age well. Let's be a little conservative today in evaluation, but I won't be surprised to see this get better over the next few years. It does need to become more expressive. That would be my main quibble today, and it is not clear whether it can acquire that extra expressiveness. It is vaguely approachable today, but you should really give it three or four years in the cellar. It will certainly show better, although it may not be at peak then.

The 2019 Reserva Grande Rocim is the winery's Alicante Bouschet. It comes in at 14.7% alcohol and was aged for 24 months in new French oak. Often the winery's biggest Big Boy, this is certainly big again this year, but that doesn't stand out so much because it is in very good balance too. It opens with velvety texture, precision and plenty of power. The power is always appropriately countered by the concentrated mid-palate. This is never too astringent. It is plenty ripe, but it also never seems to go over the top or become a fruit bomb. I've had some ups and downs with this bottling over the years, sometimes thinking that it sacrificed balance to become attention-getting. This year, it is still attention-getting, but for all the right reasons. It has focus, structure and surprising elegance. It will be interesting to see how this ages. It looks like a big winner that will improve in the cellar. It is on the road to sensational.

The 2017 Reserva Grande Rocim is the winery's Alicante Bouschet. It comes in at 15.1% alcohol and was aged for 24 months in new French oak. This is where the winery often lets it all hang out—which is not always a good thing, but this vintage works. It handled the considerable wood aging shockingly well. It doesn't really seem drenched in vanilla, which is not to say that the wood has no impact. One thing the long stay in wood does guarantee is that the character of the Alicante is missing and masked for the moment. This hints at the ability to age well and develop in the cellar. So, give it a couple of years more to see if it acquires some character and nuance. It should. It mostly seems very well balanced this year, which has not always been my impression in the past. In the meanwhile, the concentration, focus and structure make this a potential star. When all is said and done, it will probably be my favorite Grande Rocim yet, although time ultimately must answer that question.

The 2013 Reserva Grande Rocim is the winery's Alicante Bouschet, typically it's blockbuster style. It comes in at 15% alcohol and was aged for 24 months in new French oak. This is surprisingly elegant—in a certain sense—this year. More refined than I've typically seen before, it easily avoids jam and an overly dense mid-palate. It seems to handle its alcohol well. It throws off a touch of a rare, roast beef nuance. Then, the power comes out. Although there is a real backbone here, it is never really too hard. You'll want to age this to allow the fruit to show more expressiveness and complexity, rather than just to allow the tannins to soften. This is a pretty nice Grande Rocim. It may have some questions to answer in the cellar to justify its price point and its massive bottle, but it does well. There were just 3,963 bottles produced.

The 2011 Reserva Grande Rocim was potentially brilliant when seen over the summer for a preview look in Alentejo, but it had a lot going on and really needed a second look with a few months more in bottle. It's the best wine of the group from Rocim this issue, although clearly the worst value. Unfortunately priced out of most peoples' consideration, especially in the USA (it is a somewhat more palatable 50 euros in Portugal), it is a statement wine composed of 100% Alicante Bouschet. It comes in at 15.0% alcohol and was aged in new French oak for 18 months (200% new oak, in fact, meaning it passed through new barrels in two phases) and therein lies its first problem. It combined focus, sweet oak, fine fruit and more sweet oak. However, it was a decadent and delicious whole anyway. This wine does not forget about structure, by the way. It is powerful on opening and very tight on the finish. Over a couple of days, the tannins resolved well. That one caveat keeps recurring, though: the big fruit (and big everything) is rather obscured by the big oak treatment that makes it seem a bit unbalanced just now. That will make it a touch controversial early on since the Alicante character is hard to find. It could be most any grape at this point. The key question becomes with this and all such wines – what will be left when the oak subsides, assuming it does? The answer is not always so clear with such beasts, but I saw plenty of good signs. It had the wherewithal to drink better the next day and was equally good if not better on Day 3. That impressed me. After being open for another hour on Day 3, it actually gave me some hints that there was actually Alicante Bouschet underneath. It seems like a winner in many respects no matter what, if you like its rather decadent style. Drunk a bit cool (low 60sF), it seemed like pure hedonism and I do think it is the best wine Rocim has yet made. While the 2009 of this bottling seems to be on the upswing, this 2011 more clearly delivers the goods in its style. The only question is how good it is, and some conservatism is warranted there. It may well be entitled to an uptick at some point, but let's take that slowly. It will be approachable young, but for best results take that slowly, too, and give it a couple of years to settle down. Its biggest problem, to be sure, will be the price point. That's up to you.