"Beautifully balanced with strawberry notes, fermented dry to keep it refreshing. 100% Touriga Nacional"
Founded in 1952, with the production of the first ever vintage of Barca Velha, Casa Ferreirinha pioneered the quality revolution in Douro still wines and was the first producer in the region dedicated entirely to producing wine, rather than port. Named after the legendary Porto matriarch Dona Antónia Ferreira, Casa Ferreirinha, pays homage to the memory of this visionary woman. Today, the winemaking is headed up by Luís Sottomayor, who restrains the Douro’s natural exuberance to produce wines that have a vibrant freshness allied to a lovely texture and depth.
The Touriga Nacional is sourced from the Quinta do Sairrão estate, which sits at 600m above sea level in the Cima Corgo region. The steep vineyards here are on schist soils with vines planted in both "vinha ao alto" vertical rows and "patamar" terraces. Grapes grown at this altitude benefit from a wide diurnal temperature range, with hot days counteracted by cool nights, and the grapes undergo an ideal slow ripening process, accumulating great flavour intensity whilst retaining acidity.
The 2019 vintage began with a cold and dry winter. Mild temperatures and lower than average rainfall in the spring created good conditions for budburst and flowering. Similarly mild temperatures in the summer made for a long, balanced ripening period and the grapes harvested were top quality.
The grapes were hand harvested into small 20kg boxes. Upon arrival at the winery the grapes were gently crushed and a controlled cold maceration took place prior to fermentation to extract aromatics and a delicate pale pink colour. Fermentation took place in stainless-steel tanks at controlled temperatures. After fermentation the wine was kept in stainless steel to preserve its bright fruit profile, then the final blend was assembled and the wine was clarified and cold stabilised before bottling.
