2012 Croft Quinta da Roeda

Like most of the prestigious Port producers, Croft traces its roots back several centuries to entrepreneurs from Britain. The company takes its name from John Croft, who joined the firm in 1736. Croft came from a family of Yorkshire wine merchants and in 1788 he wrote a treatise called the Wines of Portugal which remains one of the most useful historical documents about the history of Port. In 1911 the Croft Port estate was sold to the Gilbeys, an English family of wine merchants. Today the company is owned and operated by the Yeatman and Fladgate families, both long established in the Port business. Croft makes an array of Vintage Ports, as well as Tawny and White Port.

Douro is Portugal’s most prestigious appellation, thanks to the fact that the country’s famous Port wines have always come from the Douro. Douro, the appellation, is named for the Douro River which runs through northern Portugal. The region is mountainous and rocky, with very poor soil and harsh weather conditions because of proximity to the Atlantic. Nevertheless, vineyards have always existed there on terraced parcels of land surrounded by walls to protect the vines from wind. Most of the famous Port makers have quintas, or estates, in this region. In recent decades the Douro has developed a reputation for table wines as well as Ports, and today there are two sub-appellations within the Douro, one for table wines and one for Port. Numerous grapes are allowed within the Douro, but the main red grapes grown are Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa and Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo.) The main white grapes are Esgana Cao, Folgosado and Verdelho. Besides the historic connection to Port wines – which were highly coveted in England and other parts of Europe as early as the 17th century – the region is also home to Portugal’s best table wines, including Barca Velha.