PORTUGAL

Esteva 2007, Douro                                                                                  £8.12 Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca. Ferreira   13%

Unlike many Douro wines which try too hard and tend to be high in alcohol and extracted fruit,  Esteva at a neat 13% is dry with concentrated balanced fruit. A pleasant change from and comparable to a little claret.

‘”Ferreirinha’ was the affectionate nickname of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, the nineteenth-century head of the Ferreira port house, and the company’s unfortified Douro wines are bottled under the Casa Ferreirinha label. They were the pioneers of this style, launching Barca Velha with the 1952 vintage; it set the standard then for high quality dry red wines, and remains Portugal’s most sought-after to this day. The rest of the range follows in this tradition.

The traditional Douro varieties that make up this wine are all from estates in the Pinhão area and some higher-altitude areas nearby. Grapes were hand-picked.

The grapes were vinified at Ferreirinha’s Quinta do Seixo winery. After gentle destemming and crushing, the grapes fermented in stainless steel vats, with pumping over and skin maceration at 28ºC. The wine was kept in stainless steel vats over the winter before the final blend was decided on after careful selection and numerous tastings.

Taste Aromas of ripe redcurrant and raspberry as well as some hints of violets. Well-balanced in the mouth, a result of the softness of Tinta Barroca, the body and length of Touriga Franca and the elegance of Tinta Roriz.”

Ferreira Late Bottled Vintage Port, 2000                                           £14.51

Tourigas Franca & Nacional, Tintas Roriz, Baroca, Amareal & Rufite   20.5%

“Complex meaty sweetness on the nose with an ingredient of coffee and spice. Savoury and tangy on the long, slightly savoury finish, like a highly roasted biscuit. Delicious. - 17 points.” Julia Harding MW, www.jancisrobinson.com, November 2008.

“This most Portuguese of port houses is steeped in 250 years of tradition, and gained its current high reputation during the nineteenth century under the leadership of Dona Antónia Ferreira. . The Douro benefited both viticulturally and socially from her various projects, and Ferreira remains blessed with a superb range of vineyard holdings from which to craft their range of full, elegant ports.

All the traditional red grape varieties that were used in this port were carefully selected and hand-picked from Ferreira’s estates in the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior areas.

Fermentation took place in stainless steel vats, under temperature control, and was stopped through the addition of grape alcohol. The wines selected for the final blend were taken to Ferreira’s traditional lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia where they were aged in oak wood casks, and eventually bottled in their fourth year.”