It’s pink and it’s a port – the world’s first Pink Port first released last year. The photograph really doesn’t do justce to the elegant design – a unique tapered bottle, classy label; an obvious gift purchase.

But is the stuff inside any good? Yeh, it’s fine. Rather nice in fact. Lighter in style than a traditional port it is sure to garner many a fan.

Review0.3
Wine Tasting Note: Croft Pink Port, NV, Douro, Portugal.
Stockist: Sainsbury, Asda, Morrisons, Costcutter Price: £9.99 [More on Adegga / Snooth]
Stonkingly gorgeous cherry colour. Raspberry fruit aromas and an attractive softness to the palate with notes of dried red fruits. A subtle hint of tannin and a surge of alcohol and weight reminds you that this is a port and not a simple pink wine. Not hugely complex but with a certain liveliness. Drink chilled. Alcohol 19.5%.

Andrew BarrowScribblings Rating – 86/100 [3.25 out of 5]

First released early last year (2008) Croft’s Pink Port was applauded as ‘breaking the mold’ of the Port houses normal offerings. An obvious step you would have thought, especially during a period of increased sales of rose wines. Catavino discussed the wine at the time of its release; their conclusions on the wine itself were a bit flat (perhaps Croft have tweaked the wine since?) but were impressed by the innovation.

With red ports produced at around 20% alcohol, this new pink proved a challenge for winemaker David Guimaraens and his team at Croft from the outset. How to create a rosé style with a light, bright pink colour which is soft and approachable but with a crisp light finish? The solution was to use traditional red port grapes, extract a light amount of colour from the skins and produce a pink version using white port technology. The grapes were pressed before the juice was cold fermented for 7 days off their skins. This slow fermentation, which is twice as long as standard port, produced these fine berry flavours with the crispness required to produce a light, refreshing style.