[ Home > Croft Late Bottled Vintage Port 99 ]
The House of Croft, founded in 1678, was one of the earliest shippers of Port wines and since the seventeenth century, has been renowned for the excellence of its production. The family first became involved in wine shipping through their connection with a distinguished family of merchants, the Thompsons of York. The Thompsons had been trading with Portugal since 1660 and when Thomas Croft married Frances, daughter of Sir Stephen Thompson, it was only natural that the two families should combine their business interests in the wine trade. The Port shipping partnership that their third son, John Croft, was to join was established in 1678. John Croft remained a bachelor until his death in 1762, but the five sons of his brother, Stephen, all entered the Port wine business and several went to live in Portugal. The fourth son, Thomas Croft, joined the partnership just three years after the Port wine district had been demarcated by the Marquês de Pombal. Thomas was a man of great ability and influence. The Croft family had by now become very well established and prosperous. John Croft assured himself a place in history by his Treatise on the wines of Portugal, a full and detailed work published in 1788. The publication of his Treatise firmly placed the Croft family at the forefront of the Port-producing community based in Oporto and by 1827 Croft & Co. had become the fourth largest Port shipper. Near river, rail and road transport and lying against a backdrop of rugged mountainous scenery, Roêda is considered to be the finest Port estate in Portugal. And today, it is from its own famous Quinta da Roêda, in the centre of the Douro valley, that Croft annually sends down to its lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia the fine wines that constitute the best of Croft's production. Whereas Vintage Port spends only two years in casks and then matures in bottle, LBV is aged solely in cask and then bottled at between four and six years old. At the time of bottling it has completed its maturation and is ready for drinking without the need for decanting. Graham's LBV has much of the rich full fruity flavour and 'grip' of Vintage Port, combining this with a softness gained through oak ageing. |
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