LUYT Colheita 2017

Douro Doc
Portugal

Grape variety

The LUYT Colheita 2017 red wine is made from a huge variety of indigenous Portuguese red grape varieties. This field-blend contains about 30 different grape varieties that are harvested at the same time: some of them almost ripe, some of them ripe and some of them overripe, which gives this wine its unique character.

Vineyard/Terroir

The LUYT Colheita 2017 comes from grapes from a field specially selected by Maarten van Luyt at an average altitude of 450m on the south side of the Douro Valley in the UNESCO World Heritage area. This field is also called “Old Vineyard” with an age of 40 years. This field has a yield of only 2000kg of grapes per hectare. Due to the indirect sun on the northern slopes, the grapes here develop slowly but vigorously, on the soil of slate. Which stores the heat during the day and gives it back to the plants at night.

Production

The LUYT Colheita 2017 was handpicked and brought to the winery in 20kg crates. Here the grapes were sorted, crushed and collected in a lagar (typical open tank in the Douro wine region). During the first fermentation process of 28 days at a maximum temperature of 27^oC, the wine was manually plunged rather than machine pumped around. This was followed by a second (malolactic) fermentation process at a temperature of 20^oC. Finally, the wine was pressed and aged for a minimum of 16 months in used barrels made of 100% French oak. During the bottling process, the press wine was added to the wine, enhancing its fruitiness and body.

Colheita

The LUYT Colheita 2017 may be called a Colheita because it meets the high-quality requirements of the IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto).

Year

The year 2017 has been an excellent year for Douro wines. Winespectator rating 95. The very hot and dry growing season led to an early harvest and the vineyards with old vines produced powerful and generous wines.

Shelf life

Alcohol percentage