Produced by Croft, Quinta da Roêda Vintage Port 1970 is sourced exclusively from the estate’s flagship vineyard, one of the Douro Valley’s most historic and highly regarded quintas. Acquired by Croft in 1889, Quinta da Roêda has long been recognised as the spiritual home of the house, producing wines of exceptional fragrance, elegance and longevity. The vineyard occupies steep, terraced slopes overlooking the Douro River near Pinhão, where ancient schist soils provide excellent drainage and encourage the vines to develop deep root systems capable of withstanding the region’s hot, arid summers. Planted predominantly with traditional mixed field blends of indigenous Portuguese varieties, the vineyard is carefully managed to preserve its historic character and consistently produces fruit of remarkable concentration and complexity. Quinta da Roêda has often served as the backbone of Croft’s declared Vintage Ports, but in outstanding years it is also bottled in its own right, offering an unfiltered expression of this exceptional single estate.
The 1970 vintage is regarded as one of the Douro’s greatest post-war harvests, producing Vintage Ports of extraordinary balance and longevity. Made from traditional field-blended vines including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão, the wine was foot-trodden in granite lagares before ageing for around two years in large oak vats prior to bottling, where it has matured gracefully for more than five decades. Today, it offers a captivating bouquet of blackberry preserve, dried fig, plum, orange peel and black cherry, layered with notes of dark chocolate, walnut, cedar, cigar box, leather and exotic spices. The palate remains remarkably vibrant, with silky, fully integrated tannins, fresh acidity and exceptional concentration carried through a long, harmonious finish. Now at a magnificent stage of maturity, Quinta da Roêda 1970 delivers all the complexity and elegance expected of a great mature Vintage Port while continuing to demonstrate the extraordinary ageing potential of one of the Douro’s finest vineyards.