In contrast to my last column, where I talked about my tour at Graham’s Port House (which was established by Scottish owners), I also visited Porta Ferriera, which was founded in 1751 by the Ferreira family.
It is the only Port wine company that has always been in Portuguese hands. It was purchased in 1987 by Sogrape, the leading Portuguese wine distributor that also produces the very popular rosé wine named Mateus.
Porto Ferriera is quite unique in that it also produces very high-quality still wines under the label Casa Ferrierinha. I got to try some of these wines during my tasting as well.
During our cellar tour, in addition to seeing the vats storing all the port produced by Porto Ferreira, we saw a collection of artifacts used in the production of port, including branding instruments used to brand the casks as well as traditional cooperage instruments.
We were led to the tasting room through a corridor that showed posters from the past advertising their ports and wines. Then we tasted two still and two port wines from their collection:
Casa Ferreirinha 2022 Vinha Grande Duoro Branco is a white wine blend of Portuguese grape varietals (40-per-cent Viosinho, 30-per-cent Arinto, 20-per-cent Rabigato and 10-per-cent Gouveio) and matured for eight months in wood.
It is a wine that is ready for immediate consumption, which has orange blossoms and white flowers on the nose, stone fruit and apricots on the palate, with a grassy and almond aftertaste.
It is a medium-bodied wine and goes great with grilled fish.
Casa Ferreirinha 2021Callabriga Duoro is a red wine that is a blend of 45-per-cent Touriga Franca, 38-per-cent Touriga Nacional and 17-per-cent Tinta Roriz. Some of the same grape varietals are used to produce port wines.
For this wine, no spirit is added to fortify the wine, and as such, a still red wine is produced.
You will get dark fruits and smoke on the nose, blackberry compote and figs on the palate with an iron aftertaste.
I love the thick and heavy mid palate of this wine, which will continue to improve over the next two to three years.
Ferreira 2020 Late Bottled Vintage, as the name suggests, is a ruby vintage port wine bottled four years after the vintage (compared to true vintage ports, which are bottled two years after the vintage).
The extra years of aging allow these ports to be enjoyed immediately, whereas true vintage ports normally require many years of storage before they hit their optimum drinking window.
You will get black fruits with spice and a balsamic aftertaste
Ferreira 2022 Quinto do Porto Vintage Port is the oldest vineyard site owned by Porto Ferreira.
In 2022, the grapes of this vineyard were judged to have good enough quality to declare a vintage port for that year.
As a true vintage port, it should be stored for at least 10 years before consumption.
It is currently a very young port but has a lot of upside. You get hints of balsamic cedar, spice, pepper, cloves, black plums and black cherries.
The port has racy acidity and heavy tannins, so it needs quite a bit of time for all these elements to come into balance.
For more of my notes on my cellar tour and my tasting, see here.
Casa Ferreirinha wines can be found at Everything Wine or Marquis Wine Cellars.
For more information about Porto Ferreira and their cellar tours if you are in Vila Nova de Gaia or Porto, please visit their website.
Until next time, happy drinking!
Tony Kwan is a Richmond News columnist. Lawyer by day, and a food and wine lover by night. Kwan is an epicurean who writes about wine, food and enjoying all that life has to offer.
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