Churchill's Port, 2020

Vintage Port, Douro

Description and Reviews:
“This is a big, ripe year where the natural acidity of Quinta da Gricha plays an important role in the Vintage blend. With a powerful ox-blood colour, this muscular Port has a fresh vein of tannin that enhances its fruity aroma, bringing vibrancy to its rich, jammy palate and ensuring a balanced and elegant finish. This is a concentrated but fresh Vintage Port with an intrinsic quality to age beautifully in bottle for several decades.” - Johnny Graham, 2022.

Produced with old vines (on average over +50 years old) from the Cima Corgo and Douro Superior sub-regions in the Douro Valley, of which the backbone comes from the old vines of Quinta da Gricha.

About 2020.
When comparing with 2019, the crop yield was 30 to 35% lower. In August, the vines were exposed to high temperatures and a lack of water, creating hydric stress and resulting in fast maturation, which led us to speed up the picking pace to ensure that the grapes were harvested inside the ideal maturation window. We started harvesting the old vines at Quinta da Gricha on the 7th of September.

WINEMAKING NOTES
All our ports are made in “lagares” or traditional granite treading tanks. This is our preferred choice of vinification for Port. Although more costly, we believe it is still the most effective maceration process for making top quality Vintage Port. We have treading teams working throughout the day and up to 10pm each evening.
During the first six months, the young Ports will spend the winter months in seasoned oak vats in the Douro before being transported to our lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia. Here they will continue to age for a further 18 months in large seasoned oak vats or stainless steel tanks until being bottled.