Fonseca Port
Fonseca is one of the oldest and largest port shippers. First trading in 1815, the firm recruited Manoel Pedro Guimarãens. In 1822 he set sail for England; by travelling he could avoid persecution in Portugal as an outspoken liberal, and sell wines from London that Fonseca shipped. Manoel juggled a successful business with supporting fellow exiles of civil war. When Maria II emerged victorious, he was rewarded with the title of Knight, then Knight Commander, of the Order of Christ.
Around 1860 Manoel’s two eldest sons joined the firm, now M.P. Guimarãens & Son. Together they acquired the Fonseca trademark from the original owners’ heirs and, almost forty years later, the next generation joined: Frank (Pedro Francis Fladgate Guimarãens) came to Oporto to supervise vintage production. He remained in the position for more than 50 years, and since then the role has been passed to his great-nephew Bruce, then Bruce’s son David, Guimarãens. Fonseca is now owned by Taylor Fladgate but David, the sixth generation of Guimarãens, remains as head winemaker.
They are the only House with a perfect 100 points by critics on not one but four separate vintages in the last century, known globally for their wines’ intensity of fruit, opulence, structure and balance to last for decades. Wine experts praise the House; Robert Parker wrote: “Fonseca is one of the great port lodges, producing the most exotic and complex port… one might call it the Pomerol of Vintage Ports.” James Suckling also endorsed them, stating that Fonseca are “perhaps the most consistently great of all.”.
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49 products found.
Fonseca Port, 1963
Vintage Port
The Fonseca 1963 Vintage Port is celebrated as one of the finest ports of the 20th century, produced in an exceptional vintage year known for near-perfect growing conditions in Portugal's Douro Valley. Fonseca, a renowned port house, is particularly famous for its opulent and richly flavored wines, and its 1963 vintage exemplifies these qualities. Decades later, it remains a benchmark for vintage port, prized by collectors and enthusiasts alike.
This vintage port is renowned for its complexity and elegance. Even after 60 years, well-stored bottles often retain a deep ruby hue and offer a captivating bouquet of dried fruits, chocolate, and spices. …
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Price: £325.00
Stock: 5 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1961
Guimaraens Vintage Port Library release from Fonseca cellars Oporto
Rare Bottles of Fonseca Single Quinta Vintage Port obtained directly from the Fonseca Cellars in Oporto
Vintage & Background
The Guimaraens Vintage Port is traditionally bottled in years that are not widely declared, giving Fonseca an opportunity to showcase the house style from excellent harvests that fall outside the classic declarations. 1961 was one such year. While not a universally declared vintage, the conditions in the Douro produced powerful, ageworthy wines. This bottling, released directly from Fonseca’s Oporto cellars as a library release, offers both impeccable provenance and a rare glimpse into the house’s mid-20th century production. …
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Price: £695.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1958
Guimaraens Vintage Port
The Fonseca 1958 Port is golden and nearly tawny in colour. On the nose dark cherry and elegant aromas. Rather full bodied on the palate, sweet, complex and balanced with burnt sugar. Elegant finish.
Learn more about Fonseca
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Price: £595.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1955
Vintage Port Christies label
The 1955 was the only year declared by Fonseca in the 50s. An underrated, indeed almost forgotten, vintage that deserves to be rediscovered.
Notes on the year
The year was marked by an excellent ripening season with hot weather in July and August meaning that the crop was perfectly mature towards the end of September. Most of the well known shippers declared 1955.
Tasting Note
Medium to deep red, with a remarkably youthful ruby edge. Incredible richness and almost young grapey fruit character. As it breathes it opens to reveal spicy mature dark fruit aromas. On the palate it fills the mouth with round, marzipan richness mixed with full chocolate flavour. …
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Price: £595.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1948
Vintage Port
High shoulder, UK Bottled by John E McPherson and Sons Ltd, Newcastle
The Fonseca 1948 Vintage Port is often hailed as one of the legendary vintages of the 20th century, an icon in the world of fortified wines. Deep, complex, and astonishingly well-structured, it demonstrates Fonseca’s signature style of powerful fruit and elegance. Even after many decades, it has retained an extraordinary vibrancy and depth, making it a timeless classic.
In terms of tasting profile, the 1948 Fonseca opens with an aromatic symphony of rich blackberries, plums, and ripe figs, underpinned by layers of dark chocolate, cedar, spices, and a hint of mint. On the palate, the wine is lush, incredibly smooth, and beautifully integrated. …
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Price: £1,495.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1947
Fonseca Guimaraens Single Quinta Vintage Port
1947 Fonseca Guimaraens Single Quinta Vintage Port
The 1947 Fonseca Guimaraens is a rare and historic Single Quinta Vintage Port from the immediate post-war era — a wine that captures both the warmth of its vintage and the distinctive depth of the Guimaraens estate fruit. Produced at a time when full vintage declarations were limited, this release showcases Fonseca’s craftsmanship and the enduring character of its single-vineyard style.
In the glass, it reveals a deep tawny-brick hue with amber highlights, reflecting its long evolution in bottle. The bouquet is wonderfully complex and mature, offering aromas of dried fig, plum compote, cedar, cocoa, and warm spice, with haunting notes of old rose and fine leather. …
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Price: £995.00
Stock: 5 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1945
Vintage Port
Level very top shoulder, embossed capsule, fragile label
Renowned as one of the great Port producers, Fonseca's vintage wine is among the best in virtually every widely declared vintage. The house style is flamboyantly rich, even exotic, and the wines are usually sweeter and fuller in body than those from most other producers.
The 1945 Fonseca is a top wine from one of the top vintages of the 20th century, a hot year with low yield. In the glass, the gorgeous wine has bittersweet chocolate on the aroma as well as surprising fruit; a dollop of chocolate permeated the array of flavors while the tannic structure was richer and rounder than the Taylor ’48. …
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Price: £1,795.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1934
Vintage Port, DOC Douro Base of neck Peatling & Cawdron Bottling
The house of Fonseca traces its origins to the early nineteenth century. The first evidence of the firm trading in Port is an entry dated 8th April, 1815, in the ledgers of the Real Companhia Velha, the royal monopoly company. This records the purchase of 32 pipes of Port by the firm’s founder, João dos Santos Fonseca. His first documented sale occurred on 14th September, 1815, followed in 1816 by his first overseas shipment.
Fonseca Ports are known for their intense and complex aromatics. A 1934 Fonseca will likely offer aromas of dried fruits (such as figs and dates), nuts (like almonds and walnuts), and spices. …
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Price: £1,595.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1934
Vintage Port, Douro Very Top Shoulder
The house of Fonseca traces its origins to the early nineteenth century. The first evidence of the firm trading in Port is an entry dated 8th April, 1815, in the ledgers of the Real Companhia Velha, the royal monopoly company. This records the purchase of 32 pipes of Port by the firm’s founder, João dos Santos Fonseca. His first documented sale occurred on 14th September, 1815, followed in 1816 by his first overseas shipment.
Fonseca Ports are known for their intense and complex aromatics. A 1934 Fonseca will likely offer aromas of dried fruits (such as figs and dates), nuts (like almonds and walnuts), and spices. …
more >>>
Price: £1,495.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1934
Vintage Port, Douro Excellent Level
The house of Fonseca traces its origins to the early nineteenth century. The first evidence of the firm trading in Port is an entry dated 8th April, 1815, in the ledgers of the Real Companhia Velha, the royal monopoly company. This records the purchase of 32 pipes of Port by the firm’s founder, João dos Santos Fonseca. His first documented sale occurred on 14th September, 1815, followed in 1816 by his first overseas shipment.
Fonseca Ports are known for their intense and complex aromatics. A 1934 Fonseca will likely offer aromas of dried fruits (such as figs and dates), nuts (like almonds and walnuts), and spices. …
more >>>
Price: £1,495.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1934
Vintage Port, DOC Douro Excellent Level
The house of Fonseca traces its origins to the early nineteenth century. The first evidence of the firm trading in Port is an entry dated 8th April, 1815, in the ledgers of the Real Companhia Velha, the royal monopoly company. This records the purchase of 32 pipes of Port by the firm’s founder, João dos Santos Fonseca. His first documented sale occurred on 14th September, 1815, followed in 1816 by his first overseas shipment.
Fonseca Ports are known for their intense and complex aromatics. A 1934 Fonseca will likely offer aromas of dried fruits (such as figs and dates), nuts (like almonds and walnuts), and spices. …
more >>>
Price: £1,495.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1934
Vintage Port, DOC Douro Excellent Level
The house of Fonseca traces its origins to the early nineteenth century. The first evidence of the firm trading in Port is an entry dated 8th April, 1815, in the ledgers of the Real Companhia Velha, the royal monopoly company. This records the purchase of 32 pipes of Port by the firm’s founder, João dos Santos Fonseca. His first documented sale occurred on 14th September, 1815, followed in 1816 by his first overseas shipment.
Fonseca Ports are known for their intense and complex aromatics. A 1934 Fonseca will likely offer aromas of dried fruits (such as figs and dates), nuts (like almonds and walnuts), and spices. …
more >>>
Price: £1,495.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1934
Vintage Port
Fonseca's, Vintage Port 1934
Bottled by Hatch, Mansfield and Co. .
Provenance: Christies Sale Raby Castle
Fonseca’s 1934 stands out as an exceptional wine from a split vintage spanning 1934 and 1935. Bottled by Hatch & Mansfield, this is an extremely rare Port, with even the library stock in the Fonseca lodge being very limited.
Still with a deep red core, the wine offers a reserved and refined character, revealing dark chocolate intensity on the nose and a fuller, more textured palate. It exudes lively elegance and freshness, with a subtle hint of salinity adding complexity. Beautifully defined soft berry fruit is perfectly balanced by fine, linear tannins, while a cherry stone freshness lingers gracefully on the finish. …
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Price: £1,695.00
Stock: 6 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1927
Vintage Port, DOC Douro Very Top shoulder Slightly bin soiled label
Review by AHB - Portforum.com "A lovely rich red colour, warm and dark; 90% opaque. Showing little on the nose, but the little it is showing is warm and fruity — and very nice. A beautiful palate, soft entry with poise and balance. The fruit is generous, sweet and ripe and still plentiful. The palate is big and rich; stunning for a port of this age. The aftertaste is amazing — so full of fruit, of rich burnt fruitcake; mouthfilling and immense. This is stunning, stunning port.".
48 hours later a 6cl sample bottle was tasted which showed even mor ecomplexity, being sweeter and rounder than the pop 'n' pour version. …
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Price: £2,695.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1922
Vintage Port, DOC Douro
Pale tawny brown at the core, fading to amber with olive highlights at the rim. Faultless nose, extraordinarily complex, with notes of cedar, tobacco and orange flower perfectly intertwined, a sumptuous mellow undertone of molasses and butterscotch and a halo of fresh, minty herbal scent. An hour after decanting, the wine opened up an exotic spice chest of nutmeg, black pepper, cumin and, tobacco, later joined by coffee, aromatic wood and dried rose petal. Dense, thick, almost treacly palate, holding the spirit firmly in place and underpinned by a crisp acidity. A luscious infusion of treacle and toffee lingering into the endless finish. …
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Price: £2,395.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1922
Vintage Port, DOC Douro Believed Fonseca
Pale tawny brown at the core, fading to amber with olive highlights at the rim. Faultless nose, extraordinarily complex, with notes of cedar, tobacco and orange flower perfectly intertwined, a sumptuous mellow undertone of molasses and butterscotch and a halo of fresh, minty herbal scent. An hour after decanting, the wine opened up an exotic spice chest of nutmeg, black pepper, cumin and, tobacco, later joined by coffee, aromatic wood and dried rose petal. Dense, thick, almost treacly palate, holding the spirit firmly in place and underpinned by a crisp acidity. A luscious infusion of treacle and toffee lingering into the endless finish. …
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Price: £2,295.00
Stock: 2 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 2011
Vintage Port, Douro ***19.5 Points- JancisRobinson.com*** ***97-99 Points- RobertParker.com***
RARE MAGNUM FORMAT
Fonseca declares its vintages only in the most exceptional of years, and in 2011, like many, Fonseca benefitted from a perfect ending to the growing season, ensuring optimum ripeness for their grapes. This allowed deep, powerful and aromatic wines to be made on each of the Fonseca Quintas in the Távora and Pinhão valleys. 2011 has thus given Fonseca another opportunity to express the best characteristics of its vintage port to conoisseurs: its concentration of black fruits, its firm tannic grip, its dense velvety texture and its vibrant aromatics. It bears the promise of many years of development in bottle. …
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Price: £285.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 2011
Vintage Port, Douro
The 2011 Vintage Port Wine from Fonseca has been described as "heady, opulent nose. Completely enveloping, Smells as though there is going to be the most fabulous texture. Wow! All stops pulled out for this one. It's all absolutely gorgeous intensity of sweet fruit on the front palate and then gradually the schist and structure reveal themselves. This is really wonderful stuff. So tempting to sip it decades before it is ready." Jancisrobinson.com
Fonseca declares its vintages only in the most exceptional of years, and in 2011, like many, Fonseca benefitted from a perfect ending to the growing season, ensuring optimum ripeness for their grapes. …
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Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 2007
Vintage Port ***96/100- Wine journal*** ***94/100- Wine Advocate***
96/100 (Outstanding) Wine journal
94/100 (Outstanding) Wine Advocate
Reviews: "The 2007 Fonseca Vintage Port is opaque purple-colored with a high-class perfume of lavender, Asian spices, pencil lead, incense, and an amalgam of black fruits. On the palate it is voluminous with layered, succulent fruit, outstanding density, and excellent integration of tannin, acidity, and alcohol. The long finish and the wine’s impeccable balance suggest a lengthy evolution and a drinking window extending out to 2045. " Jay Miller, Wine Advocate.
"The nose is quintessential Fonseca, like a riotous party reaching its crescendo in the glass. …
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Price: £89.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 1994
Vintage Port
*** 97 Points - Parker ***
A 1994 Fonseca Vintage Port is a highly esteemed wine. The consensus among critics that the 1994 Fonseca Vintage Port is a remarkable wine, possessing the depth, complexity, and aging potential characteristic of a top-tier Vintage Port from an outstanding vintage.
Tasting notes
This astounding port is a deep, opaque ruby color with hints of garnet at the rim. It has complex aromas of blackberry, plum, and dark cherry, cocoa, vanilla, and exotic spices. The palate is full-bodied and rich, with ripe black fruits dominating, layers of dark chocolate, espresso, and baking spices adding depth. …
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Price: £139.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 1983
Vintage Port
Fonseca is one of our all-time favourites. Fonseca's 1983-vintage Port is made with a harvest that survived the first snowfall in Pinhão in 20 years and heavy rain through the spring. The result is intense aromas of dark chocolate, prune, fig and hints of rich double cream. Consider pairing its chocolate, fig, prune, raisin and walnut flavours with a cheeseboard or with festive fare over the Christmas period.
An outstanding Port rating 92/100 from an outstanding vintage. Robert Parker writes of this port... "Fonseca is one of the great port lodges, producing the most exotic and most complex port. …
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Price: £119.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 1972
Guimaraens Single Quinta Vintage Port
Fonseca has belonged in the first rank of Vintage Port producers since the nineteenth century. Its Vintage Ports are noted for their luscious fruitiness which develops great opulence and complexity with age.
This is a very rare example from the 1972 vintage. This wine has a tawny coloured rim around the outside. The nose is very gummy and thick with orange peel, slightly medicinal. Very reducted on the palate with thick tar, raisins, orange peel.
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Price: £395.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 1968
Guimaraens Single Quinta Vintage Port
From the rare 1968 vintage, this Fonseca Vintage port is deep and attractive with a sweet nose and is well balanced with a peppery finish. Elegant and rich, lovely acidity, plummy fruit, ethereal and long.
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Price: £395.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 1967
Guimaraens Vintage Port
The Fonseca 1967 Vintage Port stands as a testament to the enduring quality of one of Portugal's most esteemed Port houses. Bottled in 1970, this wine has matured gracefully over the decades, offering a complex bouquet of dried fruits, spice, and subtle earthy undertones. On the palate, it delivers a harmonious blend of rich fig, dark cherry, and hints of tobacco, culminating in a long, velvety finish that reflects its meticulous aging process.
When serving this vintage Port, it's essential to decant it carefully to separate it from any sediment that may have formed over time. Allowing the wine to breathe for about an hour will help in releasing its intricate aromas and flavors. …
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Price: £295.00
Stock: Out of Stock