2016 Croft Vintage Port
“2016 is a Modern Legend for Vintage Portâ€
- James Suckling
97 Points and In Stock!
$42.99 (375ml) – Buy Now
$78.99 (750ml) – Buy Now
The one wine you know you can count on to last, and that isn’t totally impossible to find, is vintage port. And 2016 has been mentioned in the same breath as the lauded 1963. With modern vineyard management and cellar techniques, the top producers are taking a lot of the luck and guesswork out of the art of port. Dominic Symington noted “In the old days, we picked the grapes because the pickers showed up. Not anymore.†The result is wines of amazing elegance and refinement. The benefit is that these wines are drinking fantastic at this young age, though they certainly will lay down nicely in your cellar for decades to come.
House of Croft
The Story of the House of Croft begins over four centuries ago, in the city of York, which was at the time one of England's principal centers of trade. Since 1581 the monopoly of the city's commerce had been held by the Merchants Company of York. In 1588, Henry Thompson, member of a prominent Yorkshire family, was admitted to the Company and set up a successful business trading in wine. This firm was to become the Port house that we know today as Croft.
The Thompson and the Croft families had become connected through the marriage in 1681 of Frances Thompson of Kirby Hall, the Thompson family home, and Thomas Croft of Hull. The first Croft to become a partner in the Port firm in Oporto was John Croft (the first of a string of Crofts of that name) who joined the firm in 1736 at the age of 42. Shortly afterwards the company became known as Tilden, Thompson and Croft.
In 2001 Croft Port returned to family hands. Adrian Bridge, managing director of the distinguished family owned Port producer then known as Taylor Fonseca, secured the purchase from Diageo of the Croft Port business.
With the acquisition of Croft Port, the Taylor Fonseca group was renamed The Fladgate Partnership. Its new family owners began an extensive program of investment in Croft, beginning with the firm's famous vineyard estate of Quinta da Roeda. The first move was to build traditional granite treading tanks at the estate's winery. The return to traditional wine making took the quality of the firm's vintage Ports to an even higher level. The Croft 2003 was acclaimed as one of the finest of the vintage and subsequent vintage declarations, as well as releases of Quinta da Roêda single estate vintage Ports, have further enhanced Croft's reputation as a "First Growth" vintage Port house.
The 2016 Croft is in stock and ready to ship to you.
