Quinta de la Rosa Tonel n° 12, Douro, Portugal, Porto

Quinta de la Rosa has been in the Bergqvist family since 1906, although they have been in the port trade as shippers under the family name, Feueheerd since 1815. Nowadays Sophia Berqvist runs the domain. It currently has around 55 hectares under vine and produces around 50,000 litres of port and 160,000 litres of wine each year.

Quinta de la Rosa was given as a christening present for Claire Feueheerd, Sophia's grandmother, in 1906. The family port shipping company, Feueheerd, was sold in the 1930s but La Rosa was kept and run by Sophia's grandmother, Claire. In 1988 Sophia and her father, Tim Bergqvist, decided to restart the family business and launched Quinta de la Rosa as a top quality port producer onto the market place.

Quinta de la Rosa is situated in Northern Portugal, 100kms inland from Oporto. It is set in the heart of the Alto Douro, A-grade, port growing area and is located along the banks of the river, near Pinhão.

For many years, before 1988 when they started selling port under the La Rosa brand, the Bergqvist family used to go down to 'Tonel 12' (a large 25 pipe barrel kept in the lodge under the house) and fill their decanter with delicious ten year old tawny direct from the barrel. To this day still they refer to Tonel 12, instead of ten year old tawny, and decided to keep the name on the label.

The port is stored in small (550 liter) oak casks or "pipes" and it is from this selection of fine old ports that they blend the Tonel 12. This blending occurs on a regular basis to ensure that stocks are always fresh.
It is made from the traditional port varieties, mainly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Barroca and Tinta Roriz.