GRAPE VARIETIES
Traditional port varieties, mainly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Sousão and Tinta
Roriz from La Rosa’s A graded vineyards.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS
The Colheita makes a wonderful digestif - delicious with many desserts; chocolate, fruit
and dried fruit based puddings such as mince pies. It can be matched with cheese or
simply drunk on its own.
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ASTING NOTES
The Colheita is similar in style to other La Rosa ports – well defined, with a good
structure, mature tannins and soft wood undertones. La Rosa ports are slightly drier
than most and the brandy is well integrated.
2009 produced wines that were very aromatic with exceptionally mature, dense fruit
which characterises this colheita. This port has almost 10 years of ageing in barrels
which gives it more liquorice, black chocolate, vanilla and some exoticism. On the
palate, there is an incredible exuberance, a true explosion of flavours in perfect
harmony.
This Colheita successfully marries two worlds – the energy and opulence of fruit from
Ruby ports and the elegance and complexity of Tawnies.
The port gives immense pleasure for immediate drinking. Please make sure the bottle
isn’t kept in direct sunlight otherwise it might oxidise.

PRODUCTION NOTES
We had a dry year - it only rained 285mm from January to September. The early
summer months were quite fresh but in August and September the heat arrived. We
started picking a week earlier than normal and sugars were relatively high. Yields were
slightly down on the norm. The areas that did best were North facing slopes and the
‘meia encosta’ – half way up the hills. We were well placed as many of our vineyards
were in the ‘right’ place.
The vintage went well for those who really knew their vineyards as picking at the right
time was vital. A few days too late might have meant overly ripe grapes. Jorge and
Nuno’s indepth knowledge of the vineyards paid off and we have made some fabulous
wines.

QUALITY & ENVIRONMENT
We practice a sustainable agricultural regime being part of ADVID & SATIVA. We
don’t use genetically modified organisms nor do we use animal products so vegetarians
can drink our wines. We recycle where possible and are HACCP & BRC rated.

MATURATION AND BOTTLING
Colheita ports are vintage tawnies, kept in large wooden casks called “tonels” in our
own lodge for at least 7 years before bottling. The idea of a colheita is to produce a
wood aged port from one single year (often a ‘vintage’ port quality year). This port was
foot trodden in granite lagares and matured in the ‘toneis’, some of which are over 100
years old. The 2009 Colheita as bottled in April 2018
Unlike most port shippers, all our ports are stored and bottled in the Douro (at La Rosa
and not Porto), allowing full traceability and ensuring quality from grape to bottle.