Quinta Del La Rossa 20 Year Tawny Port
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95 pts . James Suckling . June 2018
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91 pts . Wine Enthusiast . October 2013
GRAPE VARIETIES
Traditional port varieties, mainly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, from the older dry stone terraced vineyards at La Rosa.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
Tawny ports can be drunk chilled as an aperitif or at the end of the meal either on their own or with dessert or cheese. Tawny ports, by their nature are slightly oxidized in style, this means that they can be kept open longer than Vintage ports. This port can be left open for a few weeks when stored in a cool place with a vacuvin or cork.
TASTING NOTES
All our ports are made in the ‘house style’ namely slightly drier without any cloying sweetness that can be associated with some other ports. We also work hard making sure the brandy is well integrated. As with our wines, we search for harmony and equilibrium from our vineyards and we try to enable the grapes to express themselves in the bottle. The La Rosa style is to make well defined wines without too much extraction and tannin.
The beautiful golden colour is a good indication of the age of this excellent tawny port. With a great richness and aromatic complexity, notably of almond and spices, the 20 year old has a seductive texture with dry fruits and liqueur flavours. As is normal with these aged tawnies, the La Rosa twenty year old has incredible length and is an ‘aristocrat’ of ports.
PRODUCTION NOTES
The 20 Year Tawny is a blend of ports with an average age of twenty years. Every year the grapes are picked by hand at the end of September/October and trodden by foot in granite lagares. Each year we keep back some of the best quality port and use this to make up the 10 and 20 year old tawny blends.
QUALITY & ENVIRONMENT
We practice a sustainable agricultural regime being part of ADVID & SATIVA. We don’t use genetically modified organisms nor do we use animal products so vegetarians can drink our wines. We recycle where possible and are HACCP & BRC rated.
MATURATION & BOTTLING
The port is stored in the La Rosa armazem in small 550L old oak casks or ‘pipes’ as well as the larger tonels (10,000L vats). It is from this selection of fine old ports that we blend our dated tawnies. Unlike most port shippers, all products are stored and bottled in the Douro (at La Rosa and not Porto), allowing full traceability and ensuring quality from grape to bottle.