Fonseca Guimaraens

Fonseca Guimaraens, often simply called Fonseca, is one of the largest Port wine houses in Portugal. Manoel Pedro Guimaraens established the company in 1822 when he acquired control of the Fonseca and Monteiro Company from the Fonseca Family by purchase of the majority of Fonseca owned shares. A condition of the sale of Fonseca's shares was that the name Fonseca remain as the brand name. David Guimaraens, the great-great-great grandson of the founder Manuel Pedro, has been the head winemaker since 1994, and oversees the winemaking and blending for all four Taylor Fladgate Port houses: Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca Guimaraens, Croft, and Delaforce.

WIth its impenetrable black colour this is has the classic Fonseca nose dominated by an exuberant, hedonistic fruitiness, a powerful redolence of blackberry and blackcurrant which slowly releases a wonderful mix of spicy and herbal aromas, seductive notes of coffee and cocoa and hints of prune. The thick velvety tannins give the wine a fabulous voluptuous density, which integrate with the infusion of blackberry jam, dark chocolate and liquorice. The tannins are also present on the finish, brimming with blackberry and blackcurrant flavour.

Try this wine with top end cheese, especially cheddar and blue veined, treacle tart and a chocolate pot with cherry syrup.