The merchant company that we know today as Croft was founded in 1588, during Elizabeth I’s reign, by Henry Thompson of York, England. Among the oldest original Porto houses, Croft is renowned for its Vintage Ports as well as for its range of wood aged reserves and tawnies, made using time-honored styles refined by skill and experience passed down through the generations.Today, Croft is a part of the Fladgate Partnership, three of the most historic and highly regarded Porto houses.

The Douro Valley extends across northern Portugal and into Spain, a deep cleft along the Douro River that creates precipitous vineyards where terraces have been used for hundreds of years to create level strips of ground where vines can grow. The primarily schist soils are barren and low in nutrients. The climate is hot, but much depends on elevation and aspect in the vineyards—higher elevation fruit ripens later, while lower, south-facing fruit ripens sooner. 

While some Porto producers have begun releasing single-quinta (single-vineyard) Portos from estate vineyards, it is still traditional for fruit to be sourced from selected partners among the thousands of small farmers in the Douro Valley. Croft uses fruit from its own Quinta da Roêda for its vintage and single-quinta portos; for Croft’s other bottlings, fruit is carefully sourced from partner growers.