Chronicle Vineyards tinto 2020

€ 14,50

Chronicle 2020 is a Douro Superior wine, made from grapes from our Cornalheira vineyards, next to Vila Nova de Foz Côa. The vines are located at an altitude ranging from 350 to 400 meters in schist soil, dominated by Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. Created to be consumed young, it has a good aging potential. Freshness and concentration are balanced, resulting in a very elegant and extremely appealing wine.


Vinification
2020 was another year full of challenges, difficulties in flowering, some pressure from diseases and extreme heat, resulted in low yields and very small productions, but rewarded with wines of great color and aromas and good concentration. Winter and Spring precipitation levels gave us some comfort and the expectation that vines wouldn’t suffer as usual during the very warm Douro Summer. However, despite the normal precipitation, temperatures were substantially higher throughout the year, especially in July, with heat waves occurring in the other summer months. 2020 was certainly one of the warmest years since records exist. With these conditions, especially in temperature, the cycle started and finished earlier than usual. Also, the combined temperature and precipitation, caused some pressure from diseases that forced us to pay special attention, especially since we are in organic mode. The little rain that fell in August did not significantly change the scenario and an early harvest took place between the 9th and 14th of September. The production was down 30%. Besides grape variety, altitude and solar exposition played a critical role this year.

After total de-stemming, fermentation took place in stainless steel vats with controlled temperature (24 °). 12 months ageing took place on 500 liters French oak barrels (40%), new and used and stainless steel vats (60%). Bottling was carried out in July 2021.


Tasting notes
The wine has a ruby, bright color. It is intense on the nose and focused on the fruit. It is a very fresh blend, elegant, medium concentration, fine and silky tannins and has a long and very fresh finish. We recommend a service temperature of 17 °. A very versatile food tasting wine, from pasta to various grilled meat dishes, sausages, lamb, beef, pork, poultry.


Technical information


Chronicle 2020 Red

Producer | Amilcar R. Lopes
Region | Douro, Vila Nova de Foz Côa
Vineyards | Cornalheira  (Altitude: 350-400 mts)
Grapes | Touriga Nacional(66%), Touriga Franca (21%) and Sousão (13%)
Enology | Pedro Hipólito
Fermentation | Stainless steal vats
Ageing | French Oak (40%), Stainless steal (60%)
Alcohol | 14,5%    PH | 3,75    Total Acidity | 5,0
Bottling | July, 2022
Closing | Natural Cork
Vegan | Sim
Ageing potencial | up to 8 years