Fonseca Bin 27 Ruby Port (Gift Box)

Bin 27 is as well known as Fonseca itself. Although for connoisseurs and collectors the Fonseca house is synonymous with Vintage Port wine, it is actually Bin 27 the wine that most quickly comes to mind of thousands of consumers and Port lovers when they think of Fonseca.

Fonseca Bin 27 was launched in Great Britain in 1972. At that time, the Port wine market was undergoing profound changes. Consumers were becoming increasingly savvy and demanding in their choice of wines. They were no longer satisfied with the simple young Port wines that until then represented a large part of the consumption; they were looking for more sophisticated and differentiated wines, both to enjoy at home and in restaurants. And Vintage Port was not always the solution.

Although consumers liked the depth of flavor and the rich character of Vintage Port wines, the need to decant and finish the bottle within a few hours meant that they were not always the best choice for drinking by the glass on more informal occasions. In addition, Vintage Port wines were relatively expensive. Fonseca's sister house, Taylor Fladgate & Yeatman, responded to this demand by developing a new style of Port: Late Bottled Vintage, which was very successful. Fonseca, however, decided to do something different.

The house realized that what defines Fonseca, both in terms of the wine and the consumer, and what sets them apart from other Port houses, was the powerful and complex fruit quality of their wines. No other producer was able to match the fruity and opulent character that was the unmistakable differentiating mark of the house Fonseca and that found its maximum expression in its Vintage Port wines. The answer was to create a blend that could convey that magnificent fruit quality, but in a more rounded and more accessible style of Port, intended for more immediate consumption. After exchanging views with Cock, Russell & Spedding, the company's agents in London at the time, Alistair Robertson began working on the project, which came to fruition in 1972.