Black Pig Distillery – Medronho Aguardente (50cl – 43% Vol.)
£39.50
– In the begining of 2018, we oficially launched our Medronho aguardente, produced in traditional copper still, in the heart of the montado, inner Alentejo, in harmony with the black pig. From this perfect symbiosys, this special product is born and has unique identity.
It’s a very smooth product, with intense taste, made with fruits handpicked in the Alentejo coast. It’s destilled twice after 4 to 5 months of fermentation. It’s made in a controlled enviroment, with the best pratices in terms of production, health and safety conditions.
This drink is a limited special edition, that takes half a year to be produced, from picking up the fruit, fermentation of the fruit, destilations, resting stage and finally bottling process.
– Botanicals: Hand picked medronhos in the medronheiro orchards in the Alentejo coast
Ripe notes of pineapple, blood orange and guava intertwine with herbal notes of asparagus and freshly mown grass. Dry, fresh and crisp on the palate with good persistence. An excellent aperitif or pair with goats’ cheese salad. Enjoy over the next couple years.
The heady scents and opulent ripe fruit which define the Croft Vintage Port style are supported by a mesh of taut, muscular tannins. These, together with impressive depth of flavour, make the 2011 one of the most structured and powerful of recent Croft vintages.
Deep purple black colour. The complex seductive nose has the archetypal Croft opulence but displays impressive depth, background and reserves of aroma. A rich, powerful fruitiness provides the backdrop for heady scents of blossom and rock rose. Luscious ripe berry fruit flavour surges though the palate. The wine’s velvety texture is underpinned by taut, muscular, perfectly integrated tannins which provide stamina with an attractive firmness and vigour to the finish. More virile and structured than some recent Vintages from this classic house, the 2011 nevertheless displays all the rich ripe fruitiness and exotic scented character associated with the Croft house style.
97 Points Wine Spectator “Effusively juicy, rich and concentrated, showing plenty of snap to the crisp and well-spiced flavors of wild berry, dark currant and plum tart. Orange-infused chocolate notes linger on the exotic, mocha-filled finish. Best from 2020 through 2045.” Kim Marcus, September 2013
95 Points James Suckling “Beautiful aromas of violets and blueberries with hints of blue slate. Full body, medium sweet with chewy tannins and a long, long finish. A leafy, stemmy, nutty undertone to this with hints of shaved milk chocolate. Very refined and beautiful.” May 2013.
95 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate “The 2011 Croft is initially taciturn on the nose, even after allowing it 20 minutes in my glass. A light swirling immediately awakens the aromatics to offer blackberry, Seville orange marmalade, blueberries and dried fig – complex and quite compelling. There is real mineralité within this bouquet that, returning after 30 minutes, offers alluring ocean spray scents rolling in off the ocean. The palate is medium-bodied with a velvety-smooth opening that belies the fine, structured tannins underneath. It clams up a little towards the finish, shuts the lid tight and consequently there is the sensation of less persistency here compared to the Taylor’s or Fonseca. But Croft has a knack of filling out with bottle age and becomes both gentle and generous with the passing years.” Neal Martin, Eroberparker.com,
The winter preceding the 2011 harvest was cold and wet. The weather station at Croft’s Quinta da Roêda registered 496 mm of rainfall between 1st November and 31st March compared to a 30-year average of 358mm. The rain proved very beneficial, replenishing depleted ground water reserves and allowing a balanced ripening of the grapes during the hot dry summer which followed. Budburst occurred at the normal time towards the end of the third week of March and wet and relatively warm conditions in April encouraged vigorous growth. From early May conditions turned generally dry and remained so for most of the summer.
Only 12 mm of rain fell at Roêda in the months of May, June and July compared to a 30-year average of 105 mm. In spite of the arid conditions the vines were able to draw water from the ground reserves providing ideal conditions for balanced ripening of the grapes. The hot dry weather in August was broken at the ideal moment by two spells of rainfall, on 21st August and 1st September, which rounded off the ripening season and produced a balanced and evenly mature crop.
Picking began at Quinta da Roêda on 10th September in excellent harvesting conditions. Fermentation times were long, allowing for complete and even extraction, and the musts in the quinta’s lagares showed exceptionally intense colour and aroma.
Deep purple black with narrow magenta rim. The heady and powerfully aromatic nose displays a characteristic abundance of rich plump fruit and the exotic notes of eucalyptus and rock rose which are the hallmark of the Quinta da Roêda wines on which the blend is based. Juicy and luscious on the palate, with discreet and well fused tannins and a long generous finish.
93 Points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. “There is a nice limpidity on this Croft 2007. It is not the power that strikes you but the purity with black cherries, liquorices, violets and a hint of iodine. Very tight and focused. The palate is full-bodied with chewy tannins on the entry, pure blackberry, raspberry, white pepper and Asian spice towards the finish. Very fine focus, very pure and harmonious. Sensuous finish but it just tapers away when I need more grip and assertiveness. Still, this is a lovely Croft.” Neal Martin, May 2009.
92 points Wine Spectator. “Shows aromas of very ripe fruit and sweet tobacco, with hints of earth and spices. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with round, velvety tannins and a long, fruity finish. Likeable for its soft texture. Best after 2016. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.” (05/09)
The 2007 growing season was preceded by a wet winter that replenished water reserves after four hot, dry years. The humid conditions continued into spring and early summer with lower than average temperatures combined with periods of rain. There were no significant periods of intense heat during the summer months. This ensured that the leaf canopies were in an exceptionally healthy condition and able to benefit from the warm weather that preceded the harvest.
The first two weeks of September saw constant daily temperatures of between 35ºC and 38ºC. These warm and dry conditions brought the crop to perfect maturity, advancing the production of sugar and phenolics while retaining the excellent natural acidity resulting from the relatively cool summer. As a result the harvest produced perfectly balanced musts which have produced stylish and elegant wines, full of vitality, with a superb fresh concentrated fruit character.
Amber yellow colour, the nose is fine, intense and quite complex, blending tropical aromas with crystallized orange, plus hints of balsam and spices. The palate is full bodied but elegant, well balanced with a long lasting finish.
87 Points Wine Enthusiast “A gold colored wine, this is a medium-sweet white Port with maple syrup and toffee flavors balanced by fresh acidity. It would make a great cocktail base or can be drunk chilled on its own.” (10/1/2013)
White Reserva
Porto Branco Reserva is a delicate wine. Aromatic and complex, it is brimming with tropical, exotic and spicy notes. Produced from the most prestigious Grape varieties from the Demarcated Douro Region, it is the result of a rigorous selection of wines aged in oak casks in our cellars for an average of seven years.
The grapes for this wine are hand-picked. They are vinified in small, temperature-controlled vats and, after being pressed, the wines age in American and French oak for 12 months. This is a wine for special occasions that combines the universal culture of wine and art, via the reproduction of original works of art on its labels.
COLOUR: Intense ruby red.
AROMA: Exhibits hints of wild berries and blueberry fruit jam, enveloped in coffee, black pepper and a faint toasted aroma from the keg.
PALATE: In the mouth, it is intense and dense, but with robust tannins, affording it structure and complexity and suggesting good potential for aging in the bottle.
Deep colourand intense.Aromascentedwith berries,ensnaredin subtlespicy notes.Solid and densepalatewithcreamy texture, highlighting theripe fruitwrapped infine tanninsgiveit structure andalong and elegant finish.
90 Points Wine Enthusiast.
“Still young and showing fresh fruitiness, this wine needs time to calm down and broaden out. Made of four classic varieties in the Esporão vineyard, it’s dense, stalky and still full of tannins. Give this wine until 2016.”
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