Prats & Symington Prazo de Roriz 2019

Excellent combination with game dishes and red meat.

The hand-picked grapes for Prazo de Roriz are placed in small, shallow containers and placed at the Quinta de Roriz winery upon arrival. Here the bunches are manually sorted and then undergo an automated selection process to ensure that only grapes in ideal condition reach the stainless steel barrels. After softly grinding the grapes, fermentation starts after grafting the grapes with specially selected yeast, this takes place at temperatures between 22 and 24 °C. Gentle maceration is used to produce fresh and fruity wines that can be drunk young while retaining good potential for aging in the bottle. Maturation: 4 to 6 months in 400L French oak barrels.

The grapes come from the Quinta de Roriz and Quinta da Perdiz vineyards. The terroir of Quinta de Roriz provides characteristic minerals, while Quinta da Perdiz provides a peppery taste.

An exceptionally warm winter and cool spring, both extremely wet, were followed by one of the warmest summers on record. At the end of August, 40% more rain fell in the Douro than the average of the 30 previous years. This rainfall weakens the effects of the extremely warm and dry summer. The rain came as expected those two days at the end of August, the necessary refreshment for the vines that were upset by the heat. The rain put the ripening back on the right track. The harvest started on September 15 at both Quinta de Perdiz and Quinta de Roriz and was finished on October 10 and 11 respectively, a later harvest than normal.