FONSECA TO RELEASE A GUIMARAENS VINTAGE PORT FROM 2013
The house of Fonseca, which celebrates its bicentenary this year, has announced that it will bottle a Guimaraens Vintage Port from 2013.
Commenting on the release, Fonseca's Managing Director, Adrian Bridge, noted: "Fonseca started trading on 8th April, 1815. Given Fonseca's undisputed position as a 'first growth' Vintage Port producer, I am delighted that we will be marking this historic event and celebrating the Bicentenary of the house with the release of a textbook Guimaraens 2013 Vintage Port." He added: "Guimaraens Vintage Ports have been made for over a century, drawing on the best produce of Fonseca's own estates in years that produce more supple and early maturing wines. The 2013 is a worthy successor to this tradition".
David Guimaraens, Fonseca's Wine Maker, added: "2013 may be described as a 'watershed' harvest, with exceptionally rich, powerful wines being produced prior to the rains of late September and lighter wines thereafter. The Ports made on the Fonseca estates in the first week of the vintage were outstanding, allowing us to produce a very fine Guimaraens 2013 vintage blend, full bodied and packed with dense berry fruit flavour."
Guimaraens Vintage Ports are made in certain years when a classic Fonseca Vintage is not declared. They are blended from the best produce of the firm's Pinhão Valley estates, Cruzeiro and Santo António, and Fonseca's flagship property, Quinta do Panascal, on the right bank of the Távora. Approachable when young, they are an excellent choice for early drinking but have the depth and stamina to mature in bottle.
The Guimaraens Vintage 2013 will be released later in the year.
Quinta do Noval Declares 2013 Vintage Port
Quinta do Noval has announced a declaration of a very small quantity of 2013 Vintage Port.
Managing Director Christian Seely explains:
“2013 was marked by a sunny and dry growing season. By the beginning of the harvest the quality potential was outstanding. Periods of rain during the harvest meant that much of this potential was not fully achieved, but some wonderful lots of wine were made in the early part of the harvest.
Quinta do Noval has consistently followed a policy in recent years of declaring a Vintage Port, even of very small volume, if even a tiny proportion of the harvest has the quality and style of a Quinta do Noval Vintage Port. In the tasting room we found certain lots irresistibly delicious, and so decided to make this very small blend of Quinta do Noval Vintage Port. Total production was less than 1,200 cases, representing less than 3% of the production of Noval’s 143 hectare quinta.
The style of the wine is elegant, pure, aromatic, perfectly harmonious and typical of the Quinta do Noval Vintage style. Because we are certain that this wine will have an honourable place in the stellar line-up of Vintage Ports from Quinta do Noval in recent years, we had no hesitation in declaring it as Quinta do Noval Vintage Port 2013. “
i have asked Oscar to bottle me some 6L bottles of the 2013 single quinta (and claudia mentioned they had just bottled them on friday when i saw them monday)
i'm not sure his total production.
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
Added to the table of large bottlings, imperials of Quevedo Quinta Vale D’Agodinho 2013. The “50” links to Oscar’s post above; that link can be replaced with a better one if there is.
