Winemaker Notes
Mesmerising aromas; lavender, eucalyptus, green tea and licorice. On the palate, the concentration and intensity are striking with layers of complexity. There is a wonderful interplay of invigorating black and red fruits underpinned by schist tannins that give balance to the impressive structure. The Sousão comes through in a spicy seasoning that underscores the wine's remarkable freshness. The seductive finish is endless and inspirational. Precise, fresh and multi-dimensional. An inspirational wine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is an old-vine Port with two-thirds coming from ancient ones. Bark, black tea, crushed grapes and mahogany. Big and grippy. Old, traditional styled Port with incredible depth and power. Big yet polished tannins. This is foot-trodden. Co-fermented. Real deal. Try after 2030.
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Decanter
A field blend from centenarian vines together with Touriga Franca, Alicante Bouschet, Sousão and Touriga Nacional. This has lovely lifted floral aromas, with wild berry and green tea on the nose. It's similarly exotic on the palate, showing great purity of fruit once again, alongside liquorice concentration wrapped around bold, spicy tannins. A massive finish leaves some fresh acidity from the Sousão. Drinking Window 2035 - 2060
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Wine Spectator
Intense, with a terrific beam of blueberry, açaí and blackberry puree flavors coursing along, flanked by graphite and baker's chocolate notes and scored by streaks of licorice snap on the finish. A subtle violet accent weaves in the background, giving this lift and contrast. Offers a sappy, concentrated finish. Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet, Sousão and Touriga Franca. Best from 2035 through 2055.
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Wine Enthusiast
A ripe and juicy wine, this shows generous tannins that still allow the blackberry fruits to show strongly. The acidity and the core of dryness allow for the promise of aging. Drink this attractive Port from 2028.
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Wine & Spirits
Charles Symington blends this from two cofermentations, pairing up varieties that ripen simultaneously at the quinta. In 2017, touriga franca, touriga nacional and souzão all ripened simultaneously, offering him the unusual opportunity to vinify them together. That lagar fermented cooler and sustained more perfume than the lagar he filled with an old-vine field blend and alicante bouschet, to provide structure. They come together in a meaty, purple-fruited Port, layering notes of green fig and quince into the intense tannins. It has the stuffing to last.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.