The complexity, elegance and balance of Warre's Vintage Ports result from the blending of wines from three great quintas. Quinta da Cavadinha in the Pinhão Valley which runs north of the Douro, Quinta do Retiro in the Rio Torto Valley to the south, just downriver from Pinhão, and since 2006 the Quinta da Telhada in the Douro Superior, just twenty fivre kilometres from the border with Spain. The blend is rounded out by vineyards clustered around Cavadinha, namely Quinta do Alvito, Quinta das Andorinhas and Quinta das Netas.
All three vineyards have a long history of supplying Warre's, and are now privately owned by members of the Symington family who continue that tradition. Cavadinha is unique in that its vineyards range from 150 metres by the Pinhão River, to as high as 400 metres. The family's own vineyards are near the upper end of Cavadinha and continue up to 500 metres. This variation in location and altitude produces a wonderfully balanced wine as it combines grapes from the intense heat of the lower altitude and Douro Superior vineyards with grapes from a much cooler maturity cycle higher up in the Pinhão Valley.
Inky and concentrated, an opaqueness from the famous old vines of Retiro Antigo. This concentration combines perfectly with the freshness imparted by the wines from the higher lying Cavadinha vineyards to produce lovely fresh flavours of blackberry fruit. A wine of enormous elegance, combining vibrant lifted fruit with power and long lasting flavours. The wine was much enhanced by the exuberance of the Telhada Touriga Franca grapes.
