2000 Quinta do Passadouro Vintage Port

Tasting note

This Vintage Port still has a beautiful dark purple color. Very aromatic, full of plums, cherries, forest fruits and candied fruit. Firm, full and round in the mouth, very concentrated, very fruity on a background of vanilla, cocoa and soft tannins.

Description

The steep vineyards of Quinta do Passadouro are situated on a schist soil, at an altitude of 100-300 metres above sea level. The average age of the vines for this vintage is 40 years, with some 50-80 years old. They are planted in different ways: on 'patamares', 'ao alto' (in Burgundian vertical rows), and traditionally on schist walled terraces. The yield is very low: 15-25 hl/ha.

It is a blend of various grape varieties from one harvest year. As with the red wines of this house, the grapes are picked by hand and trodden by foot in granite 'lagares'. When the desired residual sweetness is reached, the alcoholic fermentation is stopped by adding high-quality wine alcohol. The young port wine is then aged for 2 years in oak barrels. This is done partly in 'pipas' (550 litres), partly in 'toneis' (5500 litres).