Grahams The Stone Terraces 2015 Vintage Port

Description

Grahams The Stone Terraces 2015 Vintage Port is a very special limited release vintage Port made from a very tiny section of vines planted on old stone terraces at Quinta dos Malvedos. It is a tribute to the men and women who labored to build the original stone walls at Quinta dos Malvedos in the late 18th century.

W & J Grahams was founded in Oporto, Portugal’s second city, in 1820 by the two brothers William and John Graham and for nearly two hundred years Grahams Ports have been made by just two families, the Grahams and the Symingtons – in 1970 the Grahams sold the company to the Symington Family (owners of Dow, Cockburn, Warre, Vesuvio et al.) who brought with them their own rich heritage in the Port trade. Graham’s has a reputation as a producer of outstanding Vintage Port for well over a century. Grahams Vintage Ports are only made in years of exceptionally high quality harvests, which on average occur two or three times in a decade. The weather in the vineyards is the principal determining factor: conditions must be ideal throughout the growing season, as well as during the subsequent harvest.

In the late autumn of 2012 Charles Symington and his cousins tasted this Vintage Port from the Quinta dos Malvedos Stone Terraces, the decision was taken to bottle 4 pipes (casks) of this magnificent wine. The grapes come from two small 18th century stone-terraced vineyards. Parcel 43 (also known as Port Arthur) is 1.379 vines planted on 1.2 hectares. The second parcel, Vina dos Cardenhos, is just 0.6 hectares. Both vineyards date back to the 1890s when Grahams bought Quinta dos Malvedos. The grapes are mainly Touriga Nacional with some of the other usual Douro grape varieties. The grapes were picked by hand on the 12th and 13th of September, a couple of days before substantial rain fell across the Douro Valley, and were then fermented in lagares in the estate’s own winery. Yields were incredibly low at just 0.82 kg per vine but several hours of treading over the following days delivered a magnificent wine with sublime floral aromas of violets.

Only 250 cases (9 Litres) produced.