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  • Country ranking ?

    52
  • Producer ranking ?

    2
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Stilton or Roquefort

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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Intense black inky core and narrow purple rim. The nose opens onto a dense brooding mass of dark blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. Compact and concentrated, it also displays exceptional purity - one of the hallmarks of the 2011 vintage.  The nose gradually opens to reveal an array of heady herbal scents, discreet notes of exotic wood, marzipan and plum as well as an attractive graphite minerality. Solid well integrated tannins give both volume and firmness to the palate with its reserves of dense black fruit infused with dark chocolate and liquorice. A vigourous, concentrated fruit-driven Vintage Port, showing the classic opulence of Fonseca.

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The Story

Fonseca has belonged to the first rank of Vintage Port producers since the mid-nineteenth century. Fonseca Vintage Ports are noted for their luscious fruitiness which develops great opulence and complexity with age. Wines born of inspired winemaking and a thorough understanding of viticulture and terroir, they appeal, perhaps more than any other house's Vintage Ports, to the enthusiast and connoisseur.

Vintage Ports represent the finest produce of a single exceptional year. Unlike Ports which age in wood, Vintage Ports will continue to age and improve in bottle for decades, their character bearing the imprint of both vineyard and wine maker.

A constant thread that runs through the history of Fonseca is the family's close involvement with the making of the firm's Vintage Ports. Throughout the 20th century, the making of Fonseca Vintage Ports was overseen by only four family members, Frank, Dorothy, Bruce and David Guimaraens and this has helped to make Fonseca one of the most stylistically consistent of Vintage Port producers.

The firm's Vintage Ports are drawn from its own quintas or estates: Cruzeiro and Santo António in the Pinhão Valley, which have contributed to the firm's Vintage Port blend for 100 years, as well the Távora Valley property of Panascal. Fonseca is unique among Port houses in making three different types of Vintage Port.

Fonseca Vintage Ports are released only when a year produces outstanding wines with long term ageing potential. These classic Vintage Ports are a blend of wines from Cruzeiro, Santo António and Panascal. Cruzeiro contributes concentrated black fruit flavours and firm tannic 'grip'. Panascal adds an opulent luscious fruitiness and a dense velvety texture. Finally, Santo António brings complexity and vibrancy with its fine scented character and fresh acidity.

Although they can be enjoyed when young, Fonseca Vintage Ports will continue to improve in bottle for many decades. They have the stamina and aromatic potential to last for over a hundred years. Attracting the highest scores and auction prices, they are favoured not only by fine wine enthusiasts but also by collectors and investors.

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Wine Information

A cold, wet winter started the year. From November-April, heavy rain in the heart of the Cima Corgo was critical to the the growing season; it replenished depleted ground water before a very dry summer. Buds appeared around March 19; April was wet and warm, which spurred growth and increased risk of diseases. In May, dry conditions prevailed, with no rain in most of the Douro Valley until August 21. Vines thrived, drawing on ground water reserves. Bunches developed in ideal conditions and véraison came a bit early, around June 15. June-July was dry but mild, except for heat spike end of July, ending the growing season. With warm weather and water, ripening was more advanced. Hot and dry conditions lasted through August; perfectly-timed rain on August 21 and September 1 helped optimal ripening. Wines have powerful aromas; remarkable depth of color, and promising structure for good evolution.

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Vintage 2011

2011 Vintage Port Declaration: All of the major port houses have now declared the 2011 vintage as being of exceptional quality. For many shippers this is the first declaration since 2007. The avalanche of declarations started with Sogrape, owners of Sandeman and Ferriera. This has been followed by Symington, the company that owns Dows, Graham Warre and Cockburn and Taylor Fladgate owners of the Fonseca and Taylors brands

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

<10 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Deep, Purple and Bright

ending

Long, Extensive and Pure

nose

Youthful, Opulent, Seductive and Refined

taste

Concentrated, Well-structured, Good texture, Youthful, Focused and Fragrant

Verdict

Impressive and Well made

Written Notes

Fonseca Vintage Port 2011 / Heady, opulent nose. Completely enveloping, Smells as though there is going to be the most fabulous texture. Wow! All stops pulled out for this one. It's all absolutely gorgeous intensity of sweet fruit on the front palate and then gradually the schist and structure reveal themselves. This is really wonderful stuff. So tempting to sip it decades before it is ready. Tasted: 24-Apr-2013

  • 98p
Bottle with normal size and filled to by the neck. Looking deep, youthful , purple and bright. Youthful, refined, opulent and seductive on the nose. The taste is fragrant, focused, well-structured, good texture, concentrated and youthful. Long, extensive, pure, spicy and vibrant. Well made and impressive. Decanted over 4h and drink between 2030 and 2050. Costs about 100-200€ per bottle.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Vila Nova de Gaia, Douro

Inside Information

By age 21, the founder of Fonseca, Manuel Pedro Guimaraens, or MPG, as he is affectionately called by his descendants, had already become deeply involved in the liberal movement that swept Europe in the wake of the French Revolution of 1789. When the civil war, known as the War of Two Brothers, broke out in 1826 between the reigning absolutist, Dom Miguel, and supporters of his liberalist brother, Dom Pedro, Guimaraens was already a close friend and ally of the liberal militant leaders in northern Portugal. Forced to flee the country several times, in 1834 he departed Portugal for the last time, smuggled aboard a ship bound for London in an empty Port pipe.

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