Fonseca Quinta Panascal is a big, luscious wine with instant appeal. The fruit is ripe and jammy, dominated by plum, dark cherry and complex secondary aromas of tobacco, tea and spice. It is a warm and hedonistic wine which will brighten the dreichest of days. The vineyard is one of the finest in the area and a major contributor to Fonseca’s main vintage Port.
Fonseca is undoubtedly one of the great names of the Douro Valley, having consistently produced excellent vintage Ports since their first release in 1840. The first recorded sales from founder Joao dos Santos Fonseca were recorded in 1815. The company then flourished with additional investment from the prominent Monteiro merchant family. A trading arm was established in London in 1822 after a young Manoel Pedro Guimaraens was exiled from Portugal due to his political allegiance. This allowed the company to grow further, only moving their office back to Portugal from London over 100 years later in 1927. The company was sold to Taylors in 1948, but the company is still largely run by members of the Fonseca Guimaraens family. Most of their grapes are grown within their three brilliant and unique Quintas – Do Panascal, De Santo Antonio and Do Cruzeiro.
