Do we ship to you?.
More wines available from Quinta Do Passadouro
750ml
Bottle:
$18.80
Passadouro 2019 is characterized by subtle acidity and a fruity character. The wine has a complex, slightly mineral...
750ml
Bottle:
$18.80
Floral notes combined with wild fruits in a combination of great harmony and elegance. The aromatic freshness...
750ml
Bottle:
$70.80
This wine displays a beautiful deep blue-violet color. It remains compact, with a base of ripe, juicy and intense...
More Details
Winery
Quinta Do Passadouro
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Region: Douro
The Douro valley in Portugal has long been one of Europe's most important and unique wine regions, with a history which stretches back over two thousand years to when Pheonician tradesmen and settlers first began planting grapevines in the rich and fertile soil found there. The region itself is something of an ideal location for viticulture, with mineral rich soils and plenty of moisture from the river, alongside long, baking hot summers which help the grapes reach full ripeness. Wineries in the Douro utilize a wide range of grape varietals for their distinctive and characterful wines, including red varietals such as Tinta Barroca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Cao, and delightful white varietals such as Gouveio and the increasingly popular Viosinho. However, it is for the fortified wines of Porto which Douro is most famous for, and these are widely considered to be amongst the finest fortified wines in the world.
Country: Portugal
Most of us are quick to associate Portugal primarily with the excellent fortified wines which come out of the Porto area, but there is much more to Portuguese viticulture than just this. Perhaps the most popular still wines the country produces are the varieties from the Vinho Verde region, which uses grapes that do not achieve high doses of sugar, meaning the wines are at their best when young and full of natural, springy fruit flavors The wines of the Douro region have undergone many transformations in their flavor and character over the centuries; once regarded as a bitter wine, the exporters experimented with fortifying the wine with brandy. After several centuries, vintners found a balance in the modern age which is at once reminiscent of Port wine, yet with the structure and character closer to other fine Portuguese wines. Thanks to the appellation system of Portugal and the strict laws governing wine production, Portuguese wines continue to maintain their reputation for quality and the distinctive characteristics they carry.