Medium amber-yellow color; orange marmalade, apricot jam, Japanese pear-apple, honey, burnt sugar, hazelnut, nutmeg, grapefruit, spice on the nose and palate.
Mild sweetness harmoniously balanced by excellent acidity (3.6 pH). No tannins. Warm, fruity, rich, delicious. Blend of 50% malvasia fina, 15% gouveio, 15% rabigato, 15% viosinho, 5% arinto. Fermentation in stainless steel vats. Matured in oak barrels seven-plus years. 20% ABV
Kopke is the world’s oldest port wine house, founded in 1638. German diplomat Nicolau Kopkë traveled from Hamburg to Portugal with his son Cristiano. Two years later, he founded Nicolau Kopkë & Co., a shipping company that became the first Port House in history. In 1781 the company purchased a farm in the Douro and began a major turn in the business from a wine-buying and selling enterprise into a major wine producer.
In 1828, Cristiano Nicolau Kopkë, the great-great-grandson of the founder, sided with the Liberal party during Portugal’s civil war. After setbacks, the Liberals won a resounding victory in 1834, which ended Portugal’s absolute monarchy and replaced it with a more modern constitutional monarchy. In 1836, Cristiano Nicolau Kopkë was granted the title of Baron of Vilar. In 1841, the company changed its name to C.N. Kopke, which remains the name today. The front labels on the classic, distinctive bottles continue to be stenciled by hand.
In 1922, Kopke acquired Quinta de São Luiz, which became the production site for all Kopke wines. The site is located in Tabuaço, on the left bank of the Douro River between Régua and Pinhão. The estate includes some 309 acres with 232 under vine, many of which are very old vines. In 1940, Kopke received official recognition as the oldest Port House in the world. In 2006, the Sogevinus Group acquired Kopke. Sogevinus was established in the 1990s and has become a major player in the production and distribution of porto. The company bottles almost nine million bottles of wine a year, with 7.8 million being porto. It exports to more than 60 countries.
The Sogevinus Group purchased an amazing gem. From 1953 until the 2006 Sovevinus acquisition, Kopke was owned by Barros, a rival port house. Barros did not push sales. Sogevinus found cellars filled with bottles that had not been touched for decades, some were more than a century old. Sogevinus is releasing those wines in relatively small allocations to safeguard the stocks and not flood the market. Their oldest current release is from 1934. This effort is the last one produced under Barros ownership. While porto often is associated with dark, rich wines, Kopke has a long and distinguished reputation for colheita—porto made with white grapes. One feature: opened bottles of colheita porto can remain fresh for up to three months, significantly longer than tawny porto.
Kopke White Colheita 2005 Porto is delicious dessert wine with complexity and depth. Medium-plus sweetness is expertly paired with balancing acidity. Luscious, versatile, compelling offering from the world’s oldest Porto house. Pair with lightly-salted almonds, roasted hazelnuts and cashews, almond cake, milk chocolate desserts, caramel desserts, crème brûlée, ice creams; dried fruits; fresh pear, honeydew melon. Cheese—roquefort, stilton, gorgonzola, cambozola black, manchego, comté, aged cheddar, parmigiano-reggiano, brie, camembert; goat cheeses, feta. $75-95
Kopke website, excellent opening video
