Quinta Do Vesuvio 2007 Vintage Port

Description

Quinta Do Vesuvio 2007 Vintage Port. A superb vintage Port produced from the Symington Family’s flagship single quinta property.

Quinta Do Vesuvio is one of the iconic Douro wine estates and there are records of the property stretching back to 1565. During the early nineteenth century, Quinta do Vesuvio was purchased by the well-known Port grower António Bernard Ferreira. Ferreira was instrumental in developing the estate rebuilding old and building new stone walled terraces, building a new winery with eight very large lagares each holding 14000 litres of wine (a typical lagare normal holds around 7000 litres). The estate eventually came into the owership of Ferreira’s daughter in law, Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, who built the main grand house and chapel and also bottled and sold the estate’s wine under the Vesuvio name – this was unheard of in the nineteenth century. With the arrival of Phylloxera, the estate focused more on olives, almonds and oranges. Quinta do Vesuvio passed through family hands until is was acquired by the Symington family in 1989 and whom immediately set about restoring and renovating the estate. The main house and wine cellars were completely restored and large planting and re-planting of existing vineyard was undertaken which enlarged the vineyard area to 136 hectares.

All grapes are trodden by foot and only Vintage Port is made at Quinta de Vesuvio. Between the extraordinary variety of microclimates and the range of grape varieties grown on the estate, the Quinta is capable of making a great Vintage Port in all but the most challenging years.  The entire property is A-rated, the highest possible quality designation. The Ports of Quinta do Vesuvio are characterised by superb inky black-red colours when young, and the nose is always intense, with strong notes of violets and wild spring flowers.  The taste is long, complex and rich, with layers of flavour that persist on the palate.  Blueberry and blackcurrant flavours combine with rich bitter-chocolate to add structure to the Vesuvio Ports.

From Symington Family Estates, “The extremely low yields of the Vesuvio vineyard produced a wine of unparalleled concentration and richness and with a deep purple colour. Floral aromas of eucalyptus and gum cistus. Intense flavours of very ripe fruit and rich blackcurrant. The combination of all the fundamental elements in this wine will give it great longevity.”

Quinta Do Vesuvio 2007 will require decanting.