Conditions
2014 was characterized by above average rainfall throughout the year, particularly in January, February, July and September. There were unusual storms during June and July. In terms of average temperatures, January was above the usual average and August fresher than what is common in the region. Throughout spring and summer there had to be extra care to prevent from mildium, oidium and some rot, but all grapes sourced appeared in great sanitary condition. Harvest appeared to be quite advanced at the beginning, however rainfall delayed picking and also reduced probable alcohol levels in the grapes. We saw a relative increase in production per hectare this year, with a very high quality for the resulting wines.

Grape Origins
The Grapes are chosen from a vineyard planted in 1998. Only Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz grape varieties were planted. Quinta da Ferradosa only uses 10% of its grape production, selling the rest. This gives us the opportunity to choose bunch by bunch, row by row, which grapes we would like for the best quality wine. In 2014 we chose 50% Touriga Nacional and 50% Touriga Franca.

Vinification and ageing
All wine was vinified at Quinta Vale D. Maria winery. All grapes were first foot-trodden in traditional granite lagars before fermenting in stainless steel tanks (5000 kgs). We then rack the resulting wines in new Allier French oak 225 and 300-liter casks from various coopers (Taransaud, Seguin Moreau, Nadalié and François Fréres), where they go through malolactic fermentation. All wines are then carefully aged for 15 months in barriques (75% new and 25% one year old French oak), keeping all different fermentations completely separated until the final blending takes place, just about one month before the bottling of the wines.

Analysis
Total acidity: 5,2 g/l
Volatile acidity: 0,7 g/l
pH: 3,67
Total SO2: 120 g/l 
Residual sugars: 0,6 g/l

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