Vintage Port

Produced at the Quinta de la Rosa winery in the Douro, this “under-the-radar” rosé is made from some of the same grapes used to produce their famous Ports. Quite dark in colour – which, admittedly, is against current trends in rosé – this wine makes up for its lack of fashionability with tons of flavour. Cranberry and raspberry fruit and a slightly savoury finish make it not only incredibly moreish but also an exciting option for food matching. Match with grilled sardines or tabbouleh.
Catriona Felstead MW, Berry Bros. & Rudd.

The 2012 offers a vivid, dark purple colour with rich black cherry aromas. This stems from a‘lighter’ port vintage, brimming with floral notes and cedary undertones. This is a very approachable vintage and a joy to drink now, showing good balance and elegance – a hallmark of La Rosa’s style. Made from traditional port varieties, mainly Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca with some Souzão from the older dry stone terraced vineyards at La Rosa.

Another brand in the Symington family portfolio and, while Smith Woodhouse might not have top-flight status, it is without doubt a pretender, with five members of the Symington family currently engaged in the management of the estate. Through the last 200 years, this small Port company has built a reputation for outstanding Vintage Ports. In their youth, they show all the immense depth and concentration of one of the top half-dozen brands but, with its more modest name, they represent superb value.

With a deep colour, the nose of this Port is a concentrated mixture of spice and fruitcake. This is a full, fat and powerful wine with a good length. A wine with great potential.

This vintage Cockburn performed on a par with the likes of Taylor, Graham and Fonseca. It is a classic port and undoubtedle their best since 1977. There is elegance and masses of concentrated fruits, and a dry and excessively long finish. Try it in 2005; we expect it to be long lived (2030).

A medium to light style. Well structured, elegant, displaying ample fruit and tannins. Not one of the powerhouses but a delicious port for drinking in the medium term.

Dirk Niepoort's 1994 is a triumph. Vinified traditionally at their showpiece estate, Quinta do Passadouro, and including unusual varieties such as Tinta Amarela, the wine is intense and beautifully concentrated. Raspberries and raisins on the nose lead to a fruit-basket of flavours on the palate, supported by silky tannins and a strong sweet finish. Drink 2004-2025

This fairly sweet, full-bodied and very concentrated wine will need to be cellared until at least 2010, and will be at its best for many years beyond that.

Some in the old guard might call it infanticide, but this is still youthful and  drink rather well now. Aside from its luscious sweetness, concentrated black and red berried fruit, liquorice and herbal notes, this wine is all about texture, body, and layered complexity. Perfect with Christmas pudding, a multitude of cheeses, various cakes or alone…just the two of you.
Demetri Walters MW - Wine Buyer



Very concentrated on the palate, full bodied with layers of plum and black fruits. I would drink it now or hold onto it for another decade, if you can.
Valiant Ki, London Shop

When tasting the 2003s for the first time, we kept going back to this wine, as we so often do with Taylor which is surely the most cerebral and complex of all the Vintage Ports. Effortlessly eschewing the excesses of the vintage, 2003 Taylor's Vintage is superb. Dense and inky, with a nose of woodsmoke, cassis, leather and meat, it is richly textured, firmly tannic, with peppery grip and a long, rewarding finish. This is, without doubt, a Vintage Port of the highest quality.

The latest news among vintage port lovers is how well the 1975s are now showing. Never heavyweights, they nevertheless show real charm and at a good price too.

Violets, blossom, firm tannins and punchy acidity. Tight-knit core fruit, heady and rich with hints of pepper and wood spice on the very lengthy finish. Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com. 12th May 2009.

The major shareholders here are, as usual, Quinta de Vargellas and Quinta de Terra Feita. Vargellas is located in the hotter eastern sector and it is significant that the selected grapes were farmed on the higher terraces, preserving acidity and balance in addition to the traditional aromatics of violet, ripe blackberry and herbs.

Taylor’s is always a treat for the senses and intellect alike, its synaesthetic appeal the fruits of ancient vines and traditional vinification. David Guimaraens, Head Winemaker, is delighted with the wine and praises both its grip and its overall complexity. We concur!

Since the early 1990s, the supremely tranquil Quinta do Noval has been under the careful ownership of AXA (the French Insurance conglomerate with a propensity for owning wine estates, Ch. Pichon Baron and Ch. Suduiraut among them) and the assiduous management of the ever-dapper Englishman, Christian Seely.
Any release from Quinta do Noval is worthy of high respect, and all the more as 2015 was within a whisker of being a generally ‘declared’ vintage.  They have here always followed a path of releasing a Vintage if the quality is there, which it undoubtedly is, regardless of the general trend among the other Port shippers. 

"This is a very fine Vintage Port from Noval; they have crafted themselves an enviable position as one of the finest makers of beautifully finessed, stylish wines that will grace any cellar and make very rewarding drinking over the decades to come.
The quality in the 2015 vintage is undeniably very high and immediately apparent on tasting. Typically dense, yet with elegance as only to be expected from a fine Noval. Dense, dark fruits, nicely concentrated with a whiff of cinnamon that keeps it nimble; the finish is long and reassuringly elegant. Noval always has a touch of French élan about it. Drinking perhaps 2028 and well into the late 2030s."
Tom Cave - Cellar Plan Manager

When last tasted in late 2010, the Fonseca 1985 was going through a particularly pleasing phase, indicative perhaps of the overall quality and perhaps somewhat under-rated capacity for longevity of this vintage.The colour is impressive and the rich but elegant fruit character is evidenced, allied, of course, to a leathery spicy gravitas that has evolved through the gentle and suitably sheltered temporal vista of bottle ageing.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, January 2011

Power, dimension and real character are all hallmarks of this most memorable vintage. Even after nearly 40 years the best wines never fail to impress with their essential three components of fruit, tannin and elegance; the latter admittedly a little less scientific, but always present. The great 63s almost always appear to be younger than they really are.

Seductive an powerful nose with fruit characters of damsons, cherries, and blackcurrants leading on to a lusciously sweet palate displaying creamy black fruits with hints of caramel. Very ripe tannins, marvellous grip and a long powerful and harmonious finish one of the finest Fonsecas of the last 25 years.

Closed and austere when young, it is only with adequate ageing that Taylors sublime qualities come to the fore. This rich, structured Port shows that they are well worth waiting for.

When last tasted in November 2010, the Fonseca impressed with both its charm, about which we knew, but also its structural power, about which we may have been less sure. The 1977s Port wines were much lauded on release, but one or two questions were asked as to whether they would indeed, as expected, last the course in the manner of the greatest vintages. Tasting, inter alia, the Fonseca, was therefore reassuring: the black fruits, cassis and morello, are still evidenced, the spirit has integrated nicely and there is gentle spice on the finish. Fonseca's famous elegance pervades, effortless and evanescent.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)

Reserved on the nose, it’s the taste that excels in this very special, single vintage tawny that has been made and matured by Graham’s from birth.  It has the depth and host of warm, enveloping flavours that conjure drinking on an autumn or winter’s evening rather than on a terrace in summer.  There are bold hints of marmalade – dark, candied chunks like a Dundee rather  than Golden Shred.  Moreish, the finish goes on and on while developing all the time too, with enough hi-toned structure to not ever cloy.  A thoroughly satisfying glass of aged port.
Tom Cave, Cellar Plan Manager With the glass sitting in front of me, I am enticed by the incredible aromas of caramelized walnuts and dried fruit leaping from the glass. Such is the concentration of the nose, one could spend much time salivating over the layers of complexity derived by 42 years of careful maturation. The palate is intensely flavoured with warming notes of dried Seville orange, allspice, effortlessly bound by a silky texture. Moving through to a savoury character towards the finish, offset by a lovely note of molasses and figs, the acidity keeps it in check, carrying the flavours through to the long and graceful finish. Perfectly balanced, full bodied yet charming, this Graham’s 1972 Tawny Port is a treat and a rarity.
Chris Lamb, Private Account Manager

The 1972 Single Harvest Tawny Port was bottled in 2015 and comes in with 125 grams per liter of residual sugar. It's a beauty. It starts slow and builds to a nice crescendo, with the acidity emerging to cut the fruit. This elegant wine has a sweet finish to go with its vibrancy and energy. It's a pretty picture overall with caramel, molasses and hints of chocolate on the end, some typical Tawny flavors. Note: This comes with a bar-top cork. Assuming a good cork, it will last indefinitely.

The three Single Quinta Ports here were bottled in 2006 and are current releases. They are released late so as to be drinkable, more or less, on release. 
93/100  Mark Squires, eRobertParker.com #221 Oct 2015