Menéres Porto LBV 2015

PRODUCER INFO

• Fernando van Zeller owns and operates what is both the largest and the fastest growing independent Port company in Portugal and comes from 14 uninterrupted generations in the Port trade (this is the longest continual run of any family in the region!)
• The company in its current form was created after the family sold Quinta do Noval in the mid-nineties, with the main benefit of this sale being additional funds to facilitate the expansion of estate vineyard holdings and the ability to maintain and expand the deep library stocks the van Zeller’s have long been associated with. It is important to note that the van Zeller family held onto most of their thousands of barrels of aged wine during this sale and today the company holds the deepest and most sought-after stocks of aged tawny in Portugal.
• Originally named after family ancestor Arnaldo Menéres, Menéres is one of four Port brands this independent firm produces and one they purchased to bring back into the family about ten years ago. The house specializes in 20 Year Tawny, 40 Year Tawny, and heirloom Colheitas.
• Menéres is the highest quality line of port the family produces, these wines are classic in style, and we consider Menéres ports the best examples in the world in terms of complexity and character for the money.

ABOUT THE WINE

• Grapes come from the company estates of Quinta do Saião and Quinta de Zom, with 220 acres and 200 acres, respectively.
• Grapes are hand cut, harvested in small baskets and delivered to the Quinta to be sorted and crushed without destemming. They are cold macerated for a full day prior to fermentation and then foot trodden and fermented with native yeasts in open top granite lagares under temperature control until about half of the grapes’ natural sugar is consumed.
• At around 100-120 g/l of residual sugar, the fermenting wine is drained off its skins and stems and it is fortified with fine, 150 proof grape brandy from Spain.
• After the harvest, the wine remains in the adega or winery in the Douro, where is is left to settle until the spring of the following year before it is taken to the lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia, next to Porto and near the Atlantic coast to be matured, blended and bottled.

Vintage: 2015 | Wine Type: Late Bottled Vintage Port, DOC
Varietal: Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca
Origin: Portugal | Appellation: Douro
Elaboration:  This superb Menéres LBV is a blend from full, rich and fruity wines of a single year which has been specially chosen for ageing from 4 to 6 years in oak casks prior to bottling. The grapes were foot trodden in granite “lagares” and stored in large oak vats called “tonels”.
Winemaker: Alvaro van Zeller

TASTING NOTES

The special characteristics of this LBV are its richness, depth of flavor and powerful, attractive bouquet. It is bold and mouth filling. In order to retain as much depth as possible, the blend has been bottled as Vintage Port, without any stabilization. As a result, the port may throw a small deposit. Extremely limited.

TECHNICAL DATA

Production: 500 cases | Alcohol: 20% | TA:  4.53 g/l | Residual Sugar: 110 g/l | pH: 3.64 | VA: 0.4

PRESS & POINTS

2012 – 92 Points, Beverage Tasting Institute