Ferreira Dona Antonia 10 Year Old Tawny Port 75cl, Douro, Portugal

Bottle notes

Founded in 1751, Ferreira is the only Port house to have stayed in Portuguese hands since its inception. Today, award-winning fortified winemaker Luís Sottomayor continues Ferreira’s legacy, making critically acclaimed Ports that rank among Portugal’s greatest wines, such as the 2018 Vintage Port, which received a perfect 100-point score from Wine Enthusiast.

Luís Sottomayor may be the modern hero of Ferreira, but it was under the leadership of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, one of the formidable widows of the world of wine, that the house’s historic reputation was cemented. Dona Antónia was ahead of her time, developing viticulture in the Douro Superior and growing the house’s impressive holding of library stocks. She also recognised the importance of vineyard ownership to guarantee quality in a period when most Port houses bought bulk wine from farmers. By her death in 1896, Ferreira had become the largest Douro landowner with numerous illustrious Quintas, including Quinta do Vesúvio, Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta do Vale Meão. In testament to her enduring legacy, the residents of Porto recently voted to name a new bridge in her honour.

Today, Ferreira's flagship vineyard is the 27-hectare Quinta do Porto. Planted in 1771 and acquired by Dona Antónia in 1863, the vineyard is located on the north bank of the Douro, downstream from the village of Pinhão and facing Sandeman’s Quinta do Seixo on the south bank. The combination of this warmer mesoclimate, due to the south/south-west exposure of the terraced vineyards and proximity to the river, creates Ports characterised by an exuberant ripeness and exceptional concentration, alongside excellent balance. Old-vine parcels, described by winemaker Luís Sottomayor as “over retirement age”, produce low yields of intensely flavoured grapes and form the backbone of many of the top Ports in the Ferreira range. The entire Quinta is dry farmed using sustainable practices and harvesting is carried out by hand.

Ferreira’s ‘Quinta do Porto’ Single Quinta Vintage Port is the purest expression of this vineyard. The 2022 vintage blends 30% Touriga Franca, 20% Touriga Nacional, 10% Sousão and 40% fruit from a small field-blend parcel of over 100-year-old vines. Described by Luís Sottomayor as “full of structure, depth and intensity”, it shows complex notes of red and black fruit, married with pepper and clove spice, and a stoney minerality, ending in a long and powerful finish.

Luís claims that Vintage Ports are “made by God, with the help of men”, encapsulating the sense of place of the vineyards and the vintage conditions. The most recent declaration, 2024, has been described as “destined to rank among the region’s greats” by winemaker Luís Sottomayor. Faithful to the distinctive Ferreira House style, the 2024 vintage reveals opulent fruit, elegant aromatic complexity and fine-grained tannins, with remarkable depth and outstanding ageing potential.

Luís’ adage continues that Aged Tawnies are “made by men, with the help of God”. So, it is mostly Luís’ expertise in the art of Aged Tawny blending that secured the ‘Dona Antónia’ the 10-Year-Old Tawny Port Trophy at the 2023 International Wine Challenge, while the ‘Dona Antónia’ 20-Year-Old won a Gold Medal in 2024. While the 10-Year-Old is elegant and aromatic, blending notes of mellow red fruit with roasted nuts, marmalade and caramel, the 20-Year-Old is intense and complex, bursting with evolved flavours of dried figs and apricots, roasted hazelnuts, baking spice and toffee. Ferreira’s ‘Dona Antónia’ 30-Year-Old Tawny Port, presented in a unique onion-shaped bottle and wooden gift box, is staggeringly complex and wonderfully rich. It was awarded both the Tawny Port Trophy and the 30-Year-Old Tawny Port Trophy at the 2023 International Wine Challenge.

The Colheita Ports are oxidatively aged Ports from a single vintage, similar in taste profile to the Tawnies, they have more of an evolved character and caramelised nutty richness.

The three white Ports in the Ferreira range all offer something different. The Dry White Port is young, fresh and bursting with citrussy aromatics. The Reserva has spent an average of seven years ageing in oak casks and has a delicious raisiny richness on the palate. The ‘Dona Antónia’ 10-Year-Old White Port, the most opulent of the three, is a blend of white Ports made from late-harvested grapes and aged oxidatively in cask for 8 to 15 years. Amber in colour with intense aromas of dried citrus peel, nuts and caramel, it perfectly marries oomph and elegance.

The grapes for the Ferreira Aged Tawnies are sourced from prime vineyard sites in the Cima Corgo and Baixo Corgo sub-regions of the Douro. The Douro is the largest mountainous vineyard area on earth and vines are planted on steep terraces sloping down to the Douro river, many of which are supported by ancient, UNESCO-world-heritage-protected dry stone walls. Given the steep gradients and the inaccessibility for machinery, vineyard operations and harvesting are carried out by hand. Soils in the Douro are composed of a dense, slate-like, metamorphic rock called schist. In the Douro, the schist fractures vertically, allowing the vine roots to delve deep to access water and nutrients to sustain them through the hot Douro summers. The poor quality of the soil means that the vines produce low yields - on average 1.5kg of grapes per vine - of intensely concentrated fruit, packed with flavour and able to stand up to decades of oxidative ageing.

Upon arrival at the Quinta do Seixo winery, the grapes were destemmed and gently crushed. Fermentation took place in stainless-steel vats with vigorous punch downs to extract the ideal levels of colour, flavour and tannin before fortification. The ferment was closely monitored to determine the ideal moment to halt the fermentation by fortifying with grape spirit, leaving some of the grapes’ natural sugars. The wines remained in the Douro until the spring following the harvest when they were transported downstream to the historic Ferreira cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia for oxidative ageing in oak barrels. The 10-Year-Old Tawny is a carefully crafted blend of wines between 8 to 15 years of age.

Tasting notes

Pale brick red in colour. On the nose, mellow red fruit aromas are married with notes of roasted nuts, marmalade and caramel. On the palate, a vibrant acidity perfectly balances the sweetness and carries the rich flavours onto the smooth finish.

Details

Alcohol: 20% VOL

Acidity: 4.8 g/l

Residual Sugar: 115 g/l

pH:  3.3