Colheita Tinta Negra

Justino's Madeira's Colheita is the producer's single-vintage Madeira programme - a step up from the standard 3-year and 10-year aged blends in that the wine carries a specific harvest year on the label. The 2003 is from Tinta Negra, the workhorse red grape that supplies most of Madeira's volume but rarely gets vintage-dated bottlings outside producers like Justino's and Barbeito. Sweet category (Doce / Fine Rich), aged in oak casks at the producer's Caniço facility, fortified to 19%.

Tinta Negra's place in Madeira is shifting. Until 2015 the grape could be sold under the noble-variety names (Sercial, Verdelho, Boal, Malmsey) on a sweetness-only basis; the rule change forced producers to either work with the noble grapes or label Tinta Negra honestly. Vintage-dated Tinta Negra Colheitas like this 2003 are part of the post-rules effort to give the grape its own register on the label.