Description
Fonseca 2016 Vintage Port.
Fonseca is truly in the top tier of Vintage Port houses and is recognised for the consistency of style and quality developed by five generations of the same family since the firm’s foundation in 1822. The top wine that they produce, only in good enough vintages, is Fonseca Vintage Port. The grapes for this are sourced mainly from Fonseca’s three Quintas – all located in the Cima Corgo: Quinta de Santo António (which is now organic), Quinta do Cruzeiro, and Quinta do Panascal. All three properties are A-rated, and were purchased by the firm in the 1970s; the former two had been under contract to Fonseca Guimaraens in the early 1900s. The grapes for Fonseca 2016 Vintage Port were trodden by foot in the stone “lagares” of Cruzeiro and Panascal. It is a typical Douro Port blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão and Tinta Amarela.
Vintage Ports are only made on very exceptional years (usually three or four times in a decade). After the harvest, wines of Vintage potential are put into oak barrels called ‘pipes’. Some eighteen months later a careful and painstaking series of tastings is held to judge exactly which wines of different vineyards merit inclusion in the final blend. If the ideal blend is achieved, the wine is then bottled without any filtration whatsoever approximately 24 months after the original harvest. Vintage Port must then be matured for some ten to twenty years in cool dark cellars as it gradually achieves the outstanding style of a great wine. The bottles should always be stored lying down. Vintage Ports deposit a heavy sediment or ‘crust’ in the bottle while maturing and must be decanted prior to serving. Read our guide to decanting Port here.
Fonseca 2016 Vintage Port – “The Fonseca 2016 has the finely constituted fruit which is a hallmark of the house style, with an attractive minerality. It is worth noting the quality of the tannins, one of the key attributes of the 2016 vintage. This was a year of low yields and this is reflected in the amount of vintage port offered.” Adrian Bridge, Managing Director.
4,900 cases produced.
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