Food Matches:                  This wine is best served as an aperitif on a cold winters night or alternatively would perfectly accompany BBQ meats, Crackling Pork and heavy meats.

In the vineyard the Touriga grapes were left to ripen to a higher beaume than when picked for table wine production. This allows for the accumulation of sugars and the development of varietal port characters - floral, spice and juicy red fruits.  After arriving at the winery the grapes were crushed and destemmed, releasing the juice (this is called ‘corte’ in Portugal where groups of people tread shoulder to shoulder in unison to gently crush the berries).  The crushed berries were then allowed to ferment naturally in small open fermenters, (this stage is called ‘liberdade’ in Portugal - where the stompers individually move around within the vat, ensuring the grape skins are kept submerged and fresh).  We lightly punched down the cap with small plungers (called ‘macacos’ in Portugal) to ensure that the cap is kept moist and anaerobic conditions ensure that harmful bacteria are not formed causing spoilage. We closely monitored our ferments and at the point where we were able to observe optimal lifted fermentation characters (and approximately half of the sugar had been converted to alcohol) we stopped the fermentation by adding a light brandy spirit with an alcohol content of 78%.  This causes the yeast responsible for fermentation to die, preserving the perfect balance of natural sweetness, alcohol and fragrant spicy, red and black berry fruit characters.  We immediately very lightly pressed the fortified wine into tank and verified that we had achieved an alcohol by volume of 18-20% .  After settling for 48 hours the fortified wine was racked off gross lees into aged puncheons and hogsheads for 24 months of maturation.  Before bottling it was blended and bottled without fining or filtration using vino-lock glass stoppers to ensure optimum quality sustainability for the next 30+ years.

Harvest Date:         25th of March 2019            Bottling Date:             11th of October 2021  

Closure:                    Vinolock Glass Stopper                         Drinking Window:      2021 -2050    

Alcohol:         18.2%           Vegan Friedly:             Yes            Volume:                    500 ml