Vieira de Sousa 40+ year Tawny Port (500 ml)

The 40+ Year Tawny Port is one of Vieira de Sousa’s prized wines, having a history in the cellar that reaches back farther than the age of the current generation that bottled it. The common red grapes of the Douro Valley (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Francesca, and Tinto Cão) were hand harvest many years ago and saw a traditional foot crushing in large granite lagares before the fortification and aging in giant old oak vats. For the barrel that gave its wine to these bottles, it sat untouched for well over 40 years, and some of the Port inside was likely in that barrel for close to 100 years. The resulting Tawny is unlike all of its younger examples, as the complexity over the years truly turns into one of the most elegant dessert wines on the planet. A green-rimmed gorgeous brown port fills the glass and gives off remarkable aromatics of walnuts, roasted figs, and the Portuguese countryside. On the palate there is a fabulous concentration of coffee and liqueur, prunes, dates, toasted nuts, and chocolate.

Vieira de Sousa is a newly founded official Port house that dates back to the 18th century; as they have always farmed exceptional fruit from the Douro River region, but historically have sold the majority of their juice to the large estates as their primary business. Having also made small bits of port for the family for over a century, the house has now moved to making only their own Port as Luisa Vieira de Sousa Borges (the current and now operating generation of the family) completed a degree in oenology in 2008, and was ready to take her family’s business to a new level. She is 30 years old, ambitious, and tackling a world of old traditional wine made by old men and doing incredible things with her family’s property. Only estate fruit is used for these incredible wines, coming from four different quintas (vineyards) at varying elevations, dispositions, and influences. In 2009 they bottled their first vintage port from their top Quinta do Roncão Pequeno site, the rest will now be history. They foot crush the fruit in old stone lagares, let only the natural yeasts begin the fermentation in stainless steel, allow natural settling for clarification, and they use incredibly delicate brandy for fortification. The result in their aged wines is exceptional, classic, and should be recognized as some of the greatest Port available.

Tech Sheet