Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Quinta do Vesuvio's 2013 Vintage Port is a blend of 65% Touriga Nacional, 10% Tinta Barroca, 12% Alicante Bouschet and 13% combined of Touriga Franca and Sousão. It comes in at 110 grams per liter of residual sugar. This was bottled in 2015 after 18 months in used oak vats. Seeming full bodied and quite dry in perception when opened, it kept getting sexier with air and time, the sugar and the sweet fruit eventually popping up. At the day day mark, it was irresistible and sensationally delicious. This inky black Vesuvio was probably my favorite Single Quinta in this report, although admittedly the beautiful Dow's makes it a close call and may have even more upside. If I had to pick one, though, this would likely be it. This is the sexier and more aromatic of the two. The Dow is more controlled and brooding, just a bit harder to read. They are both wonderful, though. On opening, this preened in its power, but its signature features will be the tasty fruit and powerful aromatics. That was, admittedly, not completely clear at first. Gripping and lingering on the finish, it is gorgeously constructed, nicely concentrated and it has more upside with cellaring than most of the 2013s I've been tasting. This needs some cellaring to become more expressive and softer. It should be worth the wait. Notes: This Douro Superior Quinta was acquired by the Symingtons in 1989. There were 750 nine-liter cases produced.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and full of crushed red raspberry, macerated cherry and dark plum flavors. Shows good grip, with an integrated finish of dark chocolate, accented by floral notes. Best after 2020.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.