🍷 Delaforce

Delaforce is a Port house. According to the house, the family, of Huguenot origin, entered the Port trade in 1834, when John Fleurriet Delaforce came to Oporto to set up the firm of Martinez Gassiot; in 1868 his son George Henry Delaforce founded his own house. Wikidata gives the same year and places the company in Vila Nova de Gaia. Between 1894 and 1906 the house held a warrant as supplier of Port to the Portuguese Royal Household.

According to the house, it is known for its aged Tawny Ports His Eminence's Choice and Curious & Ancient, both created in the 1930s, and for Vintage Ports from grapes grown in the Roncão and Rio Torto areas of the Douro; it also makes Douro wines. Today Delaforce is owned and run by Real Companhia Velha, also known as Royal Oporto.

According to the house, its vineyards lie in two valleys of the Douro, Roncão and Rio Torto, which it places in the best A-classified zones, and it also buys grapes under long-term agreements with some premium estates. The house says it plants a select few of the more than 12 classic Douro varieties, including Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, and that grapes are hand-harvested in mid-September and carried to the winery in small trays.

The house describes its production this way: neutral grape spirit is added once about half the grape sugar has fermented, which stops the fermentation and keeps some natural sweetness; the most prestigious wines are trodden by foot, while others ferment in specially designed tanks; the wine then settles in large vats until early the following year and is moved to lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia to age. Its premium range lists Vintage Port, Curious & Ancient (a 20-year-old Tawny), His Eminence's Choice (a 10-year-old Tawny) and Late Bottled Vintage, and its standard range Fine Ruby, Fine Tawny, Fine White and a Rosé.

Port is a wine with a protected designation of origin (PDO) from the Douro Demarcated Region. Grape spirit stops the fermentation, so at least 17.5 g/l of sugar remains; the strength is 19–22% vol.

Why it matters to you. Vintage and the age of a Tawny are set by the rules, while names such as “His Eminence's Choice” are the house's own. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.