Interview with Pedro Sá about the magic of Kopke Colheitas

[christopherpfaff]

In the run up to the great rarities Kopke Colheita (the line up incl. the Colheitas of 1935, 1938, 1947, 1957, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1984 and 1995) tasting in March 2012 in Frankfurt, Christopher Pfaff of Passion Port talked to the man who is responsible for the vinification of these outstanding wines: Pedro Sá . He is at chief enologist of Sogevinus Fine Wines for Kopke and the other Porto wine brands of the group which are Barros, Burmester and Cálem.

PP: Hi Pedro! we are very pleased be with the man who is responsible for the vinification and the further expansion of "Colheitas" Kopke, personally interview about the wines. What's behind the philosophy of Kopke Colheitas?
Pedro Sá: The Porto Wines "Colheitas" of Kopke are among the most Premium Ports of our entire portfolio. They´re wines of an exceptional quality, from a single harvest that matures in wood for variable periods of time, never less than 7 years, being bottled afterwards by market requests. These Colheitas are distinguished by the rich and elegant bouquet of dried fruits and spices. They reflect an extremely complex and full-bodied style that is characterized by a wonderful freshness and endless finish that makes it particularly interesting.

PP: What are you heed especially at harvest and vinification?
Pedro Sá: The priority is always the quality of grapes. For our potential Porto wines Colheitas, we only use selected grapes from the demarcated Douro region. We make the hand-harvest at the best moment, the grapes are destemmed, crushed and vinified in a careful maceration with extraction of colour, tannins and aromas of the pellicles, complemented by permanent pumping-over during fermentation. This process takes place in vats at a controlled temperature between 28-30ºC, until reaching the desired Baumé. At this phase grape brandy is added (benefit), originating a fortified wine. Our grapes are a mix of traditional grape varieties, comes from our Quinta São Luiz in upper Douro near Tabuaço.

PP: What are your extended Kopke Colheitas?
Pedro Sá: I can confess you that we still keep in our historical cellar valuable bottles of Kopke Colheitas 1890. We have also available to the market colheitas since 1935 white and Tawnies and 1937 Colheita. Meanwhile I can refer that in 2010 we have launched Kopke aged wines White , we are actually the unique company with the complete portfolio 10, 20, 30 and 40 years aged white Porto wines. They´re wines of an exceptional quality, obtained by the lotation of several harvests, in order to acquire a complementarity of organoleptic characteristics typical of this style aged white. Matures in wood for variable periods of time in which the age mentioned on the label corresponds to the approximated average of the different wines age on the lot, expressing the character of the wine in what concerns the characteristics conferred by the ageing in oak casks.

PP: Among friends of port always hotly debated question is whether Colheitas continues to mature in the bottle and should be drunk as soon as possible after filling. What is the position you have on this?
Pedro Sá: ... I personally prefer to consume Colheitas quite early after its bottling, since when we decide to bottle a certain Colheita we assume that this particular one have archived its utmost ageing potential. However I´ve been often surprised when I opened a Colheita with many years after bottling... in some cases these wines generally continues to present incredible aromas and they maintain impressive qualities.

PP: Finally, a personal question, what are your favourite vintages of Kopke Colheitas?
Pedro Sá: That's not easy to answer, but there is almost every decade from ports that I like very well. Since the youngest 2002 to oldest years like as 1997, 1994, 1989, 1986, 1976, 1974, 1965, 1963, 1957 and 1952. Particularly good are the very old Colheitas born between 1944 and 1947, as well as 1900s are truly incredible.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Christopher

Thanks for posting the interview - and in English. That was an interesting read.

We are no nearer to knowing the answer to the question whether we should drink colheita freshly bottled or allow colheita to mature in the bottle for many years!

[christopherpfaff]

My opinion to this question is, that it is not possible to give a definitive answer. But so far, to Kopke Colheitas I would say that it is bettter to drink they in the first 10years after bottling. We had the 1935, 1938, and 1947 who were bottled from 1984 to 1990, more then 20years in bottle and the 1957 who was also around 50years in cask and fresh bottled in 2011. The older ones were good, but more elegant and a little bit tired , ao that we had the feeling, that they are not better than if we would had have them 15 years ago.