Croft Quinta Da Roeda 2018
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Very deep purple black with a narrow purple red rim. The nose is seductive, with the opulent red fruit character which is a typical of Roêda vintage ports. Intense, woodland berry aromas add focus and finesse. As usual, the fruit is wrapped in an envelope of exotic balsamic, minty, eucalyptus scents. The palate is of round with a rich, velvety texture but there is excellent acidity and well-integrated tannins which emerge on the finish. The finish is powerful and very long with persistent crisp, red berry flavours. As always, the 2018 Roeda Vintage is ripe and seductive, but the characteristics of the year and the contribution of the wines from Roeda's oldest vineyard plots have placed this superb single-quinta Vintage Port at the elegant and restrained end of the spectrum.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Croft's showpiece estate at Pinhão always forms the base of the producer's Vintage Ports. Here it shines on its own in a wonderful perfumed, richly textured wine. In a dry style, the wine goes for richness and nutty, dried raisin flavors. With its structure, it will certainly age. Drink from 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Vintage Port Quinta da Roeda is a field blend aged for approximately 18 months in very large used wooden vats. It comes in with 104 grams of residual sugar. Ripe and expressive, this delicious single-quinta Porto also has fine concentration and some pop on the finish. Indeed, as this sits and airs out, it proves it has a real backbone. Two days later, it was pretty tight. This is more about fruit than structure, though, and this sexy, nuanced and succulent Port is going to be hard to resist as it ages. Likely to be accessible on the younger side, it should still hold very well. I need to see a bit more to be fully convinced, but right now this seems like the steal and sleeper of the Fladgate Partnership trio this issue (the Fonseca and Taylor's being the others). For the moment—and young Ports do change notably as they age—this would be my favorite of the trio.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek in feel, with a mix of raspberry and plum reduction, melted black licorice and fruitcake notes that stretch out over a graphite edge on the finish. Has good energy from start to finish. Best from 2030 through 2045
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Wine & Spirits
Roeda is Croft’s historic quinta adjacent to the town of Pinhão. Farmed by António Magalhaes since the Fladgate Partnership purchased Croft in 2001, this site is coming back to match its legendary stature. In 2018, the wine has the fatness of a year with ample reserves in the soil, a coolness that feels tied to the river itself. The fruit is rosy and vibrant red, the tannins gentle and aristocratic. Rather than a long-term wine, this will likely be at its best ten to 20 years from the vintage, though it’s already packed with Douro deliciousness.
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James Suckling
Aromas of chocolate, cherries, cassis, smoky herbs, rubber and moist earth. Full and sweet with polished, chalky tannins and a crunchy, berry-soaked palate with a chocolaty finish.
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The House of Croft, founded in 1678, was one of the earliest shippers of Port wines and since the seventeenth century, has been renowned for the excellence of its production.The family first became involved in wine shipping through their connection with a distinguished family of merchants, the Thompsons of York. The Thompsons had been trading with Portugal since 1660 and when Thomas Croft married Frances, daughter of Sir Stephen Thompson, it was only natural that the two families should combine their business interests in the wine trade.
Near river, rail and road transport and lying against a backdrop of rugged mountainous scenery, Roêda is considered to be the finest Port estate in Portugal. And today, it is from its own famous Quinta da Roêda, in the centre of the Douro valley, that Croft annually sends down to its lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia the fine wines that constitute the best of Croft's production.The twentieth century directors and managers of Croft & Co. have assiduously pursued the fine quality and reputation they inherited. The House of Croft has continued to play a dominant role in the development of the Port trade, both in Portugal and internationally.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.