Grahams The Stone Terraces 2021 Vintage Port

Description

Grahams The Stone Terraces 2021 Vintage Port presented in an individual wooden box.

Although 2021 was not a generally declared vintage, the quality of Stone Terraces does not always align with the pattern of classic Vintage Port declarations – as was Graham’s assessment for 2021.

Grahams The Stone Terraces 2021 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. When W & J Graham purchased the property in 1890, they set about recreating the necessary vineyard conditions to produce the finest Ports in the Douro, with little regard to cost. These terraces, which had been abandoned in the aftermath of phylloxera, were reconstructed by hand, recovering the sturdy retaining walls to create terraces, with minimal disturbance of the schist bedrock. A vine planted under these conditions is naturally stressed, having to put down deep roots through cracks in the schist to find the necessary water with which to survive the typically hot and dry summers of the Douro. The ancient terraces are predominantly planted with mature Touriga Nacional, with a few younger plantings of Touriga Franca, Sousão and Alicante Bouschet, these vineyards deliver wines with a distinct profile, in great part, due to their aspects. The ‘Port Arthur’ vineyard has an east and west-facing plot, while the ‘Vinha dos Cardenhos’ faces north.

In the 2021 harvest, these vineyards delivered wines with an extraordinarily deep inky purple colour, pin sharp acidity, and wonderfully fresh scented aromas. After assessing the wines over the last 16 months, the Symingtons have chosen to bottle The Stone Terraces 2021 Vintage Port. This is just the fifth time that the family have made this micro-terroir Vintage Port – following 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The 2021 growth cycle and harvest were one of the coolest in recent years, with moderate conditions encouraging slower, gradual maturations with balanced ripening. The remarkably cool nights through the harvest contributed to wines with excellent acidity and very good colour.

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.

4800 bottles produced

Bottled during May 2023 with no filtration.

Winemakers: Charles Symington, Bernardo Nápoles