Quinta Do Vesuvio 2008 Vintage Port

Quinta Do Vesuvio is one of the iconic Douro wine estates and there are records of the property stretching back to 1565. More recently, during the early nineteenth century, Quinta do Vesuvio was purchased by the well-known Port grower António Bernard Ferreira. Ferreira was instrumental in developing the estate rebuilding old and building new stone walled terraces, building a new winery with eight very large lagares each holding 14000 litres of wine (a typical lagare normal holds around 7000 litres). The estate eventually came into the owership of Ferreira’s daughter in law, Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, who built the main grand house and chapel and also bottled and sold the estate’s wine under the Vesuvio name – this was unheard of in the nineteenth century. With the arrival of Phylloxera, the estate focused more on olives, almonds and oranges. Quinta do Vesuvio passed through family hands until is was acquired by the Symington family in 1989 and whom immediately set about restoring and renovating the estate. The main house and wine were restored and a large planting and re-planting of existing vineyard was undertaken taking the vineyard area to 136 hectares. All grapes are trodden by foot and only Vintage Port is made at Quinta de Vesuvio. Between the extraordinary variety of microclimates and the range of grape varieties grown on the estate, the Quinta is capable of making a great Vintage Port in all but the most challenging years.  The entire property is A-rated, the highest possible quality designation.