Vintage & Single Quinta

Impenetrable blue-black colour with narrow purple rim. Intricate and finely constituted, the nose displays classic Taylor elegance and poise. A dense core of pure complex fruit, redolent of blackberry and cassis, is enveloped in a fragrant aura of violets. Resiny garrigue scents and subtle notes of of liquorice and black coffee emerge as the nose develops. On the palate, taut, linear tannins provide a solid framework. Fine berry fruit flavours linger into the finish where the tannins re-emerge to provide an attractive touch of austerity. This is textbook Taylor’s, the fine aromas and distinctive floral character of Vargellas blending with the dense dark woodland fruit and herbal scents of Terra Feita to produce a stylish wine with the unmistakeable Taylor combination of stamina and refinement.

Taylor's Port

Dow’s Vintage Ports are only produced in years of exceptional quality and represent only a very small part of the total company’s production in that year. On average only two or three times every ten years are the weather conditions sufficiently good to allow for the making of Dow’s Vintage Port.

Dow's Vintage Ports are drawn from the companies' finest vineyards; Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta de Senhora da Ribeira. Each property contributes to the Dow’s unique and distinctive style. When young, Dow’s Vintage Ports are purple-black, austere, complex and intensely concentrated, full-bodied and balanced with very fine peppery tannins.

Over the centuries, the Dow winemakers have evolved a style that suits the house’s key vineyards; fermentations are a little longer, resulting in a drier Port Wine that has become the hallmark of Dow’s. Abundant fruit flavours with hints of ripe blackberries, give elegance and poise to Dow’s. The nose is deep and powerful with strong overtones of violets when young, these mature into fine cinnamon and rose-tea aromas with age. The very high percentage of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional planted on the vineyards result in the powerful structure and aging potential of Dow’s Vintage Ports.

Dow's Port

The extraordinary quality of the wines from the Malvedos vineyard is such that in Vintage declarations these wines provide the main structure of Graham's classic Vintage Ports. In most interim years, the wines from Malvedos merit bottling as a Single Quinta Vintage Port. Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port.

Graham's Malvedos Vintage Ports have won an astonishing collection of awards at the world's major international wine competitions over recent years, with 14 Gold medals over the last two decades, clearly outperforming all other Quinta Vintage Ports.

Black/purple colour. A lovely complex nose with excellent sweet and rich fruit aromas such as black cherry, black currant and blackberry. On the palate it is packed with solid, structured, rich and intense black fruit flavours and an admirably long finish.

Graham's Port

Opulent wild blackberries, fragrance of violets, scents of flowers and wild herbs, rockrose, mint, hints of spice, bottled in their time capsule and left to mull over for years. The finish is long and persistent. It never really finishes, in fact, because just as it starts to, you’ll take another sip.

Cockburn's Port

Founded by the legendary Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, Quinta do Vesuvio is one of the great Douro estates. It has a total area of 326 hectares, of which 133 hectares are planted with vines. The rest has been conserved in its natural state. The property has great variations in altitude, from 130m at the riverside to 530m at the top of the ridge. It has vineyards that face north, south, east and west, providing a remarkable range of conditions. Being so far inland, only 30k from Spain, the Quinta experiences climatic extremes, reaching very high temperatures in summer and very low in winter. It is very dry, with an average of only 400mm of rain falling each year.

Quinta do Vesuvio experiencied a generally dry viticultural year in 2011, althought the previous autumn and winter rainfall had been above average; 312mm were recorded between November 2010 and February 2011, or 70% of the total rain during the entire viticultural year at Vesuvio. This replenished the water reserves in the subsoil and thus helped to offset the almost complete lack of rain during the early to mid-summer. As is the case in so many classic Vintage years, abundant winter rains are key to the develop of the vines during the spring and summer leading up to the harvest.

In years when a Taylor’s Vintage is not declared, the decision may be taken to bottle a Single Quinta Vintage Port. This is made entirely from grapes grown on the Vargellas property and bears the name of the estate on the label.
A Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port is generally more early maturing than the declared Taylor’s Vintages. Often quite approachable when young, they will nevertheless mature well for many years if laid down.

This is top class with so much perfume and flower aromas. Violets galore. Full body yet refined and tight with very powerful and polished tannins. This is racy and linear. Turns juicy, fresh and medium sweet. Reminds me of the excellent 1967 Vargellas.
Score: 95 James Suckling

Founded by the legendary Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, Quinta do Vesuvio is one of the great Douro estates. It has a total area of 326 hectares, of which 133 hectares are planted with vines. The rest has been conserved in its natural state. The property has great variations in altitude, from 130m at the riverside to 530m at the top of the ridge. It has vineyards that face north, south, east and west, providing a remarkable range of conditions. Being so far inland, only 30k from Spain, the Quinta experiences climatic extremes, reaching very high temperatures in summer and very low in winter. It is very dry, with an average of only 400mm of rain falling each year.

The very attractive bergamot and esteva (rockrose) aromas combined with spicy notes, so typical of Touriga Nacional, are very apparent in this wine due to the combination of the North-facing aspect and the altitude, both of which favour cooler temperatures and lend these wines incredible freshness and perfect levels of acidity. Conversely Touriga Franca is a variety that flourishes with heat and at Vesuvio is planted at relatively lower altitudes. In 2015 the finest Franca was harvested from the Vale da Teja vineyards, predominantly northwest facing and planted between 150 and 200 metres, some lying near the river. This Touriga Franca produced some of the finest examples of this variety, making beautifully floral wines with velvety ripe tannins. The combination of these two varieties was complemented by a small quantity of Sousão, drawn from a more granitic area of the Quinta, which brings acidity and minerality to the blend, beautifully balancing this powerful and structured Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port.

Dense purple black with a narrow purple rim. The nose opens with very fine pure black fruit, a fusion of black cherry, cassis and blackberry jam aromas, with notes of crushed mint, an ethereal fragrance of violets and undertones of ripe tropical fruit. The year has added an additional layer of purity and refinement to the subtle, complex Fonseca fruit character, as well as an attractive minerality. The palate is supported by a vibrant acidity and taut, wiry tannins that provide structure but also texture and volume. The fresh berry flavours carry into the long finish. A finely crafted and perfectly balanced Vintage Port.

Dark crimson with a slightly chestnut hue. Very much a cloud rather than a rapier on the nose - hedonistic and ripe with masses of sweetness almost masking a rigorous corset of tannins. You really taste the heat here - but in a very ripe fruit way, not in a hot spirit way. Drink 2036-2066 - Jancis Robinson, 17.5+ Points

Fonseca Port

Intense purple ruby core with vivid purple rim. The nose displays the ripe strawberry and blackcurrant fruitiness and resiny notes of rock rose and eucalyptus that are the essence of the Croft Vintage Port style. The palate opens with a surge of rich berry fruit flavour and is supported by a dense mesh of close-knit tannins. Although the wine displays some of the plump, rubenesque character of prior Croft vintages, the accent here is on symmetry and finesse. The characteristically exuberant fruit and heady herbal aromas are carefully modulated and the wine is classical in its proportions. An elegant and aromatic Vintage Port, perfectly poised between opulence and restraint.

Extremely perfumed with dark-berry and currant aromas. Hints of earth and spices. Full-bodied, round and medium sweet. Hints of resin. Opulent yet restrained. Shows ripe and beautiful fruit with clarity. Try in 2025 - James Suckling - 97 Points

Croft Port

Deep purple black with a narrow magenta rim. High notes of pure, intense woodland fruit with lively accents of green apple, fresh plum and raspberry. Around this core of bright, singing fruit is a heady aura of gumcistus and wild herbs. On a deeper register, exotic notes of cedarwood and jasmine provide an additional dimension of complexity. The wine has an attractive leanness and muscularity with sinewy, linear tannins that integrate seamlessly into the mid palate and then re-emerge to hold the wine in a confident grip. Energised by a racy acidity, the intense berry flavours continue to build into the long finish. Although the keynotes are refinement and poise, the wine displays the restrained vigour and stamina that are the hallmarks of the Taylor style.

OMG. This is really the most amazing young Taylor's I have ever tasted. Full-bodied and lightly sweet with super power and intensity. So racy and ... - James Suckling, Score: 100

Cockburn's Port