It was in 1855 that Ostende Rozès, descended from a great Portuguese family and, at that time, a wine merchant in Bordeaux, returned to Portugal to found his own Port firm. Rozès settled in Vila Nova de Gaïa in 1910. In keeping with their Bordeaux heritage, Rozès Port wines are elegant, complex and balanced and particularly rich and generous.
The brand's golden age came with the roaring twenties. At the head of the firm, Edmond Rozès, the founder's son, made a strong contribution to the company's development. He created a special, thickset bottle, which is now the brand's symbol and emblem all over the world.
Quinta de Monsul, the Rozès estate in the Douro, allows complete control of pressing, storing and ageing, right from the harvest. The grapes are selected from amongst the very best vineyards in the Douro valley.
The renown of the Rozès name is based on constant endeavors to express all of the intensity, richness and complexity of the wines, produced in the oldest AOC of them all.
Signaling international recognition of its identity, Rozès has been awarded numerous gold and silver medals at international competitions since 1989.

On the schist covered hillsides of the Douro, valley, in a highly singular wine-growing landscape, people have been producing an exceptional wine for nearly two thousand years. More than a gift of nature, Port wine, in its very essence and its historic density, represents a real cultural heritage of work and experience, knowledge and art, which several successive generations have nurtured. Port wine was, and still is, a key-product in the national economy and, beyond that, represents a symbolic value that it embodies all over the world, as the very essence of Portugal.
Scattered here and there throughout the Douro region, remains of wine vats and amphorae date back to the 3rd and 4th centuries. However, it wasn't until the second half of the 17th century, with the boom in Douro wine-growing and the rapid growth in wine exports, that the "Port wine" designation came into being.
The General Company of Vine Agriculture in the Upper Douro was founded in September 1756. This entity aimed to guarantee the quality of the product by working to prevent fraud, to establish a balance between production and trade and to stabilize prices. In keeping with this spirit, the very first boundary mapping of the mountains was undertaken. This is the period when the concept of a land register was defined.
In the 19th century, Port wine was widely known and recognized. From 1851 onwards, Port wine could be found all over the world, thanks to Portugal's diplomatic missions.
Today the success of Port wine shows no signs of abating, with 120 million bottles sold round the world every year. France is the leading importer of Port wines, with 40 million bottles sold every year - one third of total production.

Port is assuredly a unique wine. Unique in terms of its terroir and grape varieties, but also for its completely original methods of production and maturing.
Each individual vineyard is classified from A (the best) to F, depending on its location, soil type, grape variety, age of vines, exposure to sunlight and a whole load of other criteria. All of the Rozès vineyards are classified A or B.
In the classic vinification procedure, used in the making of certain Port wines, and after the destalking phase, the grapes are crushed by foot in lagares.
Traditionally, this operation, known as treading, is carried out by men, although it can also be done by mechanical devices that reproduce the effects of crushing by foot. After this operation (called "corta"), the must ferments for 2 to 3 days.
During this short period the must is pumped-over -the juice is pumped out from the bottom and in at the top several times, to extract the maximum amount of tannins from the grapes.
Before the natural fermentation phase is completed, the must is fortified with eau-de-vie grape spirit. Once the vinification phase has finished, the Port wine is allowed to rest, gaining in structure and intensity.
Without blending, there would be no Rozès Port. The aim is to combine the fruit and freshness of the wine and the fiery quality of the eau-de-vie, for a result that is smoothly unctuous.
After the skilful blending period, the process of ageing Port wine can take decades.

Situated in the valley of the Douro, a river running from East to West in the north of Portugal.
Vineyards planted on terraces of schist soils, with a wide variety of indigenous grape varieties.
Three sub-regions: Baixo-Corgo, Cima-Corgo (the best known), and Douro Superior.
Total area: 250.000 hectares, with 33.000 hectares of vines, divided between about 30.000 growers.