Quinta do Infantado Dry White Port

€ 14.50

White Port is a rare type of fortified wine. This amber-colored bottle shows lots of nut-driven character and could easily pass for a lighter-styled Madeira. The fruit is fresh and full of citrus and almond notes. This Port is on the dry side, but still has a touch of residual sugar.

Food pairing

As an aperitif and to enjoy throughout the evening. The best choice for preparing a Port tonic with a slice of lemon, ice cubes and tonic, it's called a P&T. Ideally paired with appetizers and salads.

Grapes: Gouveio, Rabigato, Viosinho & Moscatel Galego

from exclusively Class A parcels (Pousado, Vale de Moinhos, Serra de Cotas) totaling three and one-half hectares on poor schist soils. The fruit is hand-harvested, partly destemmed and fermented in lagar and tank with indigenous yeasts and some skin contact; fermentation is stopped with seventy-seven-degree grape brandy. The wine is aged in a combination of very old tonel or balseiro (tall wooden tanks from 3,000-60,000 liters with thick staves that slow down oxidation) and the classic Port pipa (550-liter horizontal casks with thinner staves that promote oxidation). It finishes at a modest nieteen and one-half percent alcohol and thirty grams per liter of residual sugar, rendering it legally dry or seco. Average age in bottle is between three and four years. 6000 to 8000 numbered bottles produced annually.

This is from an estate that was one of the first to estate bottling in the winery, rather than shipping it down the river to Porto. Farmed organically.

Quinta do Infantado has been a leader in estate-bottled Ports since 1979. Until that time, all exported Ports had to be shipped in bulk to Vila Nova de Gaia, 60 miles west of the Douro Valley, where they were bottled and shipped. This practice effectively prevented small private producers from exporting their wines, since the cost of running an operation in another town was prohibitive for these vineyard owners. In 1986 the laws were changed.

The Quinta is based in Pinhão, specifically in the subdistrict of Gontelho where the best Port vineyards may be found. The estate has been owned by the Roseira family since the end of the 19th century and is now managed by brother and sister, João Roseira, vineyard manager/winemaker, and Catherine Roseira, Chief Executive. The vineyards (terraced, very steep and hard-soiled) are worked in traditional methods: all elaboration is done by hand. The grapes are picked by hand and still “trodden”. The winery aims for a medium-dry style - that is, there is less grape brandy or “aguardente” and less grape sugars.

Store & Serve

Serve chilled between 6-10 °C

Remains drinkable for a few months (4 to 6 months) after opening, provided you always close the bottle with the original stopper cork and store it at a constant temperature of about 12 degrees

Alcohol content

19,5%

Critics & Awards

89/100 - Wine Spectator Tasted: Aug 2016

90/100 - Wine Enthusiast - A wine that balances mature acidity with ripe apples, dried prunes and marmalade flavors. It neatly sits between freshness and maturity, a delicious balance

Tags: Quinta do Infantado - Douro