The Port Will Be Cellared for a Later Release to Help Satisfy Market Demand for Mature Single Quinta Vintage Port
NEW YORK, NY – April 21, 2021 – The House of Fonseca is to release a 2019 Vintage Port under the Guimaraens label.
Managing Director, Adrian Bridge, comments: “I am delighted that 2019 has produced a Vintage Port of such excellent quality. This Port shows density and structure, with an impressive depth.” He adds: “We have decided to keep the wines in our cellars to mature and will release them in the next 8-10 years. Customers can currently purchase the Fonseca Guimaraens 2018 that is still widely available.”
Fonseca’s winemaker, David Guimaraens, remarks: “The warm and dry winter and cool spring conditions led to low yields and plenty of aromatic intensity, to which the cool ripening season added crisp acidity and purity of fruit. The 2019 displays all the fine fruit character that we expect from Guimaraens Vintage Ports combined with an attractive freshness and finesse typical of the year.”
CASES PRODUCED FONSECA GUIMARAENS VINTAGE 2019: 4,000
TASTING NOTE FONSECA GUIMARAENS VINTAGE 2019
Almost black at the centre with a narrow garnet rim. As expected of a Guimaraens Vintage Port, the nose is built around a core of concentrated blackberry, blackcurrant and cherry aroma, complex and intense. As the nose opens up, the curtain lifts on multiple dimensions of complex aroma including savoury herbal notes, cedary hints of cigar box and a discreet redolence of roasted coffee. The palate is beautifully balanced, with plenty of volume and a crisp acidity which runs through the mid-palate and into the long finish, lifting the wine and giving it freshness and vigour. The tannins are taut and close-knit, providing both structure and volume, and the wine finishes on notes of dense woodland berry fruit.
NOTES ON THE 2019 VITICULTURAL YEAR AND HARVEST
After a warm and dry period of dormancy, the vineyard cycle began slightly early with budburst on 9th March, about a week ahead of the usual calendar. Overall, the growing season was drier and cooler than average although the usual April rains were quite heavy, with around 98 mm of precipitation as the grapes began to colour (véraison) at around the usual time in mid-July. Although the ripening season began with high temperatures, the weather in the critical month of August was cooler than average with some rainfall on 25th and 26th to balance the ripening of the crop. The relatively cool conditions and absence of peaks of high temperature have translated into the elegance, crisp acidity and ‘singing’ fruit that we find in the 2019 wines. Harvesting of red grapes in the eastern areas of the Douro began in hot weather on 4th September and at Pinhão on 14th. The crop was perfectly healthy and in excellent condition, although yields were almost a tenth lower than the 10-year average. The wines were attractively aromatic, with a high natural acidity and greater than normal colour intensity.
Picking started at Fonseca’s Quinta do Panascal in the Távora Valley on September 18th and on the 20th at Quinta do Cruzeiro with extraordinarily healthy grapes. Picking was suspended briefly during a short period of rain on the evening of 21st September, 8mm, but was insufficient in quantity to interfere in the quality of the Ports being made. Perfect weather conditions resumed and harvesting at Fonseca’s Quinta do Santo António was delayed until the beginning of October. Excellent wines were made until right to the end of the harvest.
ABOUT FONSECA GUIMARAENS VINTAGE PORTS
Guimaraens Vintage Ports are made in certain years when a classic Fonseca Vintage is not declared and are generally more supple and approachable when young. An excellent choice for early drinking they nevertheless have the depth and stamina to mature in bottle. Traditionally, Guimaraens Vintage Ports were blended from the best produce of the firm’s two Pinhão Valley estates, Cruzeiro and Santo António. However, in recent years, the wines of Fonseca’s flagship property, Quinta do Panascal, have become an increasingly important component. Panascal is located in the Távora Valley and is one of the most highly reputed Port vineyards. Cruzeiro, on the east bank of the Pinhão River, has been supplying Fonseca since the 1870s and its wines have contributed to the firm’s Vintage Port blends since 1912. Close by, Santo António is another historic property, highly rated since the 1761 classification of port vineyards and the site of award winning work in the field of sustainable viticulture.
ABOUT FONSECA
Established as a Port company in 1815, Fonseca is noted for the stylistic consistency of its Vintage Ports which have been made by five generations of the Guimaraens family since its foundation. Its Vintage Ports are noted for their expressive, luscious fruitiness, which develops great opulence and complexity with age, as well as a voluptuous roundness on the palate supported by velvety mouth-filling tannins. Although they are capable of ageing for decades, the exuberant fruitiness of the Fonseca Vintage Ports makes them immensely enjoyable when young. Fonseca undoubtedly belongs in the first rank of Vintage port houses.
James Suckling, the distinguished wine critic and author of the most authoritative book to date on Vintage Port described Fonseca as the ‘Bentley’ of Vintage Port – the wine of the enthusiast and connoisseur.
ABOUT QUINTA DO PANASCAL
One of the most highly reputed port vineyards, Quinta do Panascal occupies a west and south-west facing aspect on the steep right bank of the Távora river, the important tributary which runs northwards into the Douro. In the words of an old saying, ‘From Roncão and Panascal come the finest wines of Portugal’. A supplier of grapes to Fonseca for many decades, the property was finally acquired by the company in 1978. Since its acquisition the estate has been the object of major investment intended, not only to bring new life to the vineyard, but to ensure that the estate produces wines completely consistent with the Fonseca house style. As a result, the property now produces outstanding wines which today form the backbone of the Fonseca Vintage Port blend. These are recognized for their rich, voluptuous fruitiness and above all for their mouth filling density, velvety texture and aromatic complexity. Quinta do Panascal was one of the first vineyards in the Douro Valley to practice organic viticulture.
ABOUT QUINTA DO CRUZEIRO
Quinta do Cruzeiro has been supplying the firm since the 1870’s, giving it the longest association with Fonseca of all the company’s properties. Cruzeiro has contributed to the Fonseca Vintage Port blend since 1912 and remains a key component today. The property is a historic one and is recorded as having been awarded feitoria status (the highest vineyard classification of the time) in 1761. It occupies a warm west facing position on the lowest slopes of the valley on the left bank of the Pinhão River. The vineyard underwent extensive renovation in the 1970’s – including the building of the first modern terraces – but still contains a large number of very old vines. The wines of Cruzeiro are noted for their fine, focused fruit and for their firm tannic grip which give structure and vigour to the Fonseca Vintage Port blend.
ABOUT QUINTA DE SANTO ANTÓNIO
Quinta de Santo António occupies an open hillside facing westwards down the Pinhão river about a kilometer north of Fonseca’s Quinta do Cruzeiro. The estate shares Quinta do Cruzeiro’s long association with Fonseca and achieved its feitoria status in the same year. Its wines have also contributed regularly to the Fonseca Vintage Port blend since early in the last century. However, the estate is smaller in area and has recently undergone extensive renovation. As a result, Santo António is now a model estate, incorporating the latest techniques of vineyard landscaping and trellising. The estate is managed according to sustainable viticultural principles with the benefit of experience gained by Fonseca at Quinta do Panascal.
For more information, please visit Fonseca Port.
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