2016 Fonseca - Porto Late Bottled Vintage (750ml)

Fonseca has held a place among the top rank of Vintage Port producers since the mid nineteenth century, prized for a house style built on lush fruitiness that gains opulence and complexity with age. The fruit for its finest wines comes from three estates, Quinta do Panascal, Quinta de Cruzeiro, and Quinta de Santo António, each contributing its own character to the blend. In the cellar, Fonseca has paired centuries of tradition with technology such as a robotic treading system engineered to replicate foot treading while protecting the grape seeds from bitterness, a small example of how the house balances innovation with its historic methods.

The 2016 growing season was marked by heavy spring rain, nearly three times the ten year average, which restored groundwater but also reduced yields in some vineyards and pushed the harvest later than usual. A hot, dry summer followed, and estates that waited for a mid September rain before picking were rewarded with excellent fruit. This Late Bottled Vintage was drawn from a reserve of full bodied red Ports made that year from Fonseca's own vineyards and other top Cima Corgo and Douro Superior sites, then aged in large wooden vats and bottled without fining or filtration.

The wine shows a deep, inky purple core with a bricking red rim, and a rich, perfumed nose of blackberry, wild plum, and licorice layered with soft red berry and floral notes. The palate brings spice, brambles, and dark chocolate over silky tannins, finishing long and bright. Serve it with a charcuterie board, roasted lamb, or a plate of dried figs and walnuts.