In the winery

On arrival at the winery the grapes are sorted, this second crucial selection ensure that only the best quality fruit makes it into the wines. 

For the wines the grapes are de-stemmed and lightly macerated before being gravity fed into one of four ‘lagares’ in the case of the Reserva wines. The red Reserva undergo a few hours of foot-treading in a traditional granite ‘lagar’ before being moved into temperature controlled stainless-steel fermentation tanks. For the other wines the process is very gentle, light crushing and pumping-over, great care is taken to ensure the wines are not over extracted. 

Unlike the wines, the ports keep their stems in order to add structure to the wine. The grapes undergo a few consecutive nights of foot-treading in the ‘lagares’ during which time they will start to ferment. Brandy is subsequently added to stop the fermentation, after which the skins are separated and moved into barrels for ageing.

Many of La Rosa’s wines have enormous ageing potential and benefit from ageing for a few years in bottle before being opened. This process enables the tannins soften and integrate into the wine.