Foz de Arouce Vinhas Velhas de Santa Maria

Vinhas Velhas de Santa Maria bottle image

Wine Description

A wine made completely from old-vine Baga grapes, this wine begins the fermentation process with fully destemmed bunches in stone lagares. This is followed by malolactic fermentation in 100% new French oak barrels, where the wine will remain for 14 months.

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Acclaim
“The 2015 Vinhas Velhas de Santa Maria (Quinta de Foz de Arouce), the newest vintage (there will be no 2014, a miserable year in the region), was in bottle but was not yet released as of this tasting. Sourced from vines more than 100 years old, it will be released at the end of 2017. It was aged for 12 months in new French barriques and comes in at 14% alcohol. This looks like a terrific 2015, elegant, refined and sophisticated, yet with good depth for the style and region, plus a fine, lingering finish. Perfectly balanced, this tightens on the finish and shows off its crisp edge, but there is fruit to counter the structure here, too. It needs a few years of cellaring to allow it to become more expressive, but it will drink surprisingly well young. You might even try it next year if you must—but it is a shame to waste the bottle. It will age well, too. It should be a perfect food wine, always sunny and understated but never getting lost in the shuffle. If it develops as well as I suspect, it might be entitled to an uptick. There were just 5,000 bottles produced.”
— Wine Advocate, Aug 2017
“Produced from old Baga vines, this is an immensely powerful and impressive wine. Its richness comes through in the dark tannins as well as bold black fruits. It is a dense wine still with great potential.”
— Wine Enthusiast, Jul 2019
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Vineyard & Production Info
Vineyard name
The Quinta de Foz de Arouce vineyard
Vineyard size
6 acres
Soil composition
Schist
Training method
Double-Guyot Cordon
Elevation:
660-825 feet
Vines/acre:
1,400
Yield/acre:
1 tons
Exposure:
Northeastern
Year vineyard planted:
1724
Harvest time:
September
First vintage of this wine:
1987
Bottles produced of this wine:
2,500
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Winemaking & Aging
Maceration length:
6
Varietal composition:
100% Baga
Fermentation container:
Stone Lagares
Length of alcoholic fermentation:
10 days
Fermentation temperature:
79-82 °F
Maceration technique:
Pumpovers and Foot-trodden
Malolactic fermentation:
Yes
Type of aging container:
Barrels
Size of aging container:
300 L
Type of oak:
French
Length of aging before bottling:
14 months
Age of Aging Container:
New
Length of bottle aging:
12 months
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Analytical Data
Acidity:
5.2 g/L
Alcohol:
14 %
Residual sugar:
4 g/L
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Wine Production

Temperature-controlled fermentation of fully de-stemmed bunches in troughs and stainless steel tanks, following a long maceration. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels.