Quinta do Vesuvio launches limited production CAPELA Vintage Port

This is a wine that has been handcrafted from vineyard to bottle in very restricted quantities. Along every step of the process we have looked to tap maximum quality potential. After several trial runs we decided that the best varietal combination would be Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Sousão. We chose the Vinha da Escola vineyard for the Nacional, an excellent location for this variety due to its concentration of heat, yet good soil water reserves (being at the bottom of the valley), contributing to a balanced ripening of a variety that is very sensitive to water stress. The Sousão is from a vineyard near the Vinha do Pombal, a vineyard now 10 years old. We were careful to bunch thin, just before veraison so as to improve the ripening of this notoriously difficult variety to get absolutely ripe. The Touriga Franca is from the Vale da Teja vineyard, in a westerly-lying location, ideal for this late-ripening variety. This old vineyard (planted in the seventies) has naturally small yields due to its age in what is an otherwise relatively prolific variety. The time of picking was almost entirely done on the basis of tasting the grapes in the vineyard although the usual analyses were carried out. We started picking the Nacional on the 18th September into one of the lagares that we had divided in half, specially to produce smaller lots. This lagar was bled nearly 30% producing only 5 pipes of a tremendously concentrated and ripe wine which was finally fortified with specially selected lots of grape spirit. The balance of the blend was produced from the Franca and Sousão, fermented in the same small lagar, picked on the penultimate day of the vintage. These two late - ripening varieties complement each other very well: the Sousão with its inky-purple colour and tremendous fixed acidity marries with the lifted floral aromas and soft velvety tannins of the Franca. This was cold-fermented, after a 30% bleed, to very low baumé, enhancing the aromatics. This was possible due to the easy colour release of the Sousão and the impressive colour of the Nacional. The overall blend is exceptionally structured, with complex layered aromas. The mouth is long, opulent and dry with very clean, balanced acidity in contrast to the Vesuvio Vintage blend, which is sweeter and softer. Only 250 cases (3.000 bottles) have been produced. The final blend is: 40% Touriga Nacional, 30% Touriga Franca and 30% Sousão.

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