The Portuguese brand ROQUETTE & CAZES® is, above all, a meeting of two friends, Jorge Roquette of Quinta do Crasto and Jean Michel Cazes of Château Lynch Bages. In 2002, the two families decided to create a company to produce great wines that would be shaped by the Douro’s natural characteristics and by the Cazes family’s experience of making wines in Bordeaux for almost a century. “To make a great wine from Douro grape varieties, a wine that shows structure and complexity, that has the power and the sun of Portugal combined with the elegance of Bordeaux,” said Jean Michel Cazes as part of this winemaking adventure.
Every step at the Portuguese brand ROQUETTE & CAZES® begins in the vineyard. From time to time, the Cazes family winemaker, Daniel Llose, travels to the Douro to visit the vineyards together with Manuel Lobo, winemaker at Quinta do Crasto. Vinification is a joint process between the two winemakers and is carried out entirely at Quinta do Crasto’s winery.
To preserve the Douro’s character, while integrating it with elegance, they created a specific vinification approach, with gentle pump overs and extended macerations, achieving wines that are intense, well structured, elegant, with their own personality and clearly marked by the terroir. Vineyards from different locations across the Douro Valley are used. The main grape varieties are Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz. For ageing, French oak barrels are used, sourced from the supplier to Château Lynch Bages. Bottle ageing then takes place in Quinta do Crasto’s Barrel Cellar, under controlled temperature conditions.
