Winemaker Notes
Beautiful and deep golden-amber color. Complex and fresh aromas of nuts combined with honey and figs. On the palate, it is very rich with mellow fruit flavors with a long finish.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Medium-deep tawny hue. Aromas of vanilla, walnuts, sweet persimmons, waffles, black tea and nutmeg. Sweet, with a medium body and a touch of bitter herbs balancing the sweetness. Slightly warming alcohol.
-
Wine Enthusiast
The Port still shows a a fruity character. Its nutty aromas and ripe dried-fruit flavor are balanced with the red fruits that are still in place.
-
Wine Spectator
Birch beer, cinnamon, dried cherry and toasted raisin bread notes mingle here, showing a glimmer of toffee through the finish. Has good focus, with a streamlined feel balancing the sweetness.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 bottling of the NV 10 Year Old White Port Manoella from old vines with mixed variety is produced in a traditional way—in lagar. It is light and fresh, floral, more primary and less complex than the extra dry bottling. It has some 90 grams per liter of sugar, so it's certainly sweeter.
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.