Colheita is the lesser-known vintage port from the tawny family, which – unlike vintage port – must be aged oxidatively for at least 7 years in wooden casks before it can be released.
Here you have a tawny that exhibits the characteristics of the harvest year, which you do not see in the blended port wines with an age indication, which are rather a calling card for a given house’s style. But since Quinta do Portal makes wines from grapes from its own fields, there is a common thread that runs through all their tawnies.
Houses that buy wine on the market and store it themselves or sell it immediately, will not be able to achieve a house style within tawny, as the origin of the wines can be very different.
After fermentation, Quinta do Portal Colheita 2014 is aged in old oak barrels (approx. 600 litres) in Quinta do Portal’s deep cellar in Celeirós, where after 8 years of aging the wine has lost a lot of colour, fruitiness and tannic acid, and is thus now ready to drink.
This is liquid brown sugar, nuts, orange peel, creamy vanilla and pickled figs with great intensity and irresistible springiness. Great concentration and velvety fruit go hand in hand, and this is a wine that is exceptionally hard to be mad at!
This colheita is lovely on its own or with well-aged Emmentaler, Gruyère or Comté, preferably with toasted rye bread, pickled prunes, nuts or figs. A dessert with nuts in the main role or crème caramel is also a good accompaniment.
Remember to enjoy the wine in spacious glasses, so that you also get the scent experience. We recommend a serving temperature of 12-17°.
