Fonseca’s three vineyards—Quinta do Panascal, Quinta de Cruzeiro and Quinta de Santo António—all form the backbone of Fonseca’s Late Bottled Vintage Portos, produced in excellent years when a general vintage is not declared. In the winery, the newly developed, robotic “Port Toes” technology for treading the grapes allows the winery to maximize the quality of the fruit by imitating the traditional action of human feet and avoiding damage to the bitter grape seeds. Fermentation is halted by the addition of grape spirits before all the residual sugar has been fermented, creating a sweet, fortified wine. The wine is then matured in neutral oak and bottled without filtration to allow further evolution in the bottle.

92 Points
Wine Enthusiast
2015 vintage
90 Points
Ken's Wine Guide.com
2016 vintage
Tasting Note

This wine shows fresh, black fruit and dark cherry aromas and flavors, with spice notes. This concentrated, structured wine has great volume and mouthfeel, with fine length on the finish.

Food Pairing

An excellent pairing with full-flavored cheeses, especially blue cheeses, and with dark chocolate or fresh berry desserts. This wine is unfiltered and should be decanted because of sediment in the bottle.

Unique Selling Points
  • A Late Bottled Vintage Porto made from fruit from Fonseca’s own estate vineyards
  • Matured for five years in casks, to integrate flavors and create smooth tannins
  • Similar characteristics of vintage Porto but with less time requires for bottle aging
  • Ready to drink when bottled

About the Grape

Tinta Amarela
Tinta Amarela makes wines with intensely perfumed aromas of blackberry and tea, bold structure, deep color and excellent depth.
Tinta Barroca
Used to make Port wines, this high yielding grape has very high sugar content, which makes wines with pronounced floral character, good structure and firm, ripe tannins.
Tinta Cão
This grape has blackberry, game and meaty aromas, and contributes longevity and exceptional elegance to the blend of Port wines.
Tinta Roriz
Tinta Roriz produces deep-colored grapes of moderate acidity which make bold wines with firm tannins, excellent complexity and distinctive resin-like fragrance.
Touriga Franca
This grape has high tannins and is very aromatic; it lends structure and balance to Port wines. It shows intense fresh red fruit, earth and flower aromas, and is very fruity on the palate.
Touriga Nacional
Touriga Nacional produces wine with finesse, body and warmth that is dark, concentrated, massively tannic and aromatic. It ages to show the complex aromas typically found in mature vintage port.
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