Fonseca’s three vineyards—Quinta do Panascal, Quinta de Cruzeiro and Quinta de Santo António—all form the backbone of Fonseca’s Late Bottled Vintage Portos, produced in excellent years when a general vintage is not declared. In the winery, the newly developed, robotic “Port Toes” technology for treading the grapes allows the winery to maximize the quality of the fruit by imitating the traditional action of human feet and avoiding damage to the bitter grape seeds. Fermentation is halted by the addition of grape spirits before all the residual sugar has been fermented, creating a sweet, fortified wine. The wine is then matured in neutral oak and bottled without filtration to allow further evolution in the bottle.
