Maynard's Colheita - Hand Painted Bottle 1990

An ode de to quality. In the Douro the weather conditions that preceded the 1990 harvest were abnormal, with excessive heat and lack of rain. The ripening period of 1990 was very dry and at the beginning of summer there was some anxiety as to how the drought and lack of moisture in the soil would affect the harvest. The sun warmed up and not even a small rainfall in July was enough to the vines, leading to a great delay in ripening. Only the rainfall in late August and mid-September was able to refresh the vines, giving them the water needed for optimal ripening. The grapes were hand harvested and transported to stone lagares where they were manually treaded for optimum extraction of colour, tannins and aromatic compounds. At the end of fermentation the wine was transferred to 600L casks where it aged until the perfect moment for bottling was decided.