Winemaker Notes
Served after dinner, it pairs well with cheeses from the Serra da Estrela region of Portugal, Stilton, Gorgonzola and other full-fat cheeses. An ideal accompaniment to a strong cigar. Should be opened two hours before serving and decanted.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Developing fig and prune aromatics. Light caramel emerges alongside the bolder ripe black fruit characters of primary youthfulness. Rich, complex and tannic; watch this space. Blend: 60% Touriga Nacional, 15% Tinta Roriz, 10% Tinta Barroca.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2000 Vintage Port was bottled in 2002. It is a blend of 60% Touriga Nacional, 15%Tinta Roriz, 10% Tinta Barroca and 15% old vines, aged in large wooden vats (balseiros) for 18 months. It comes in at 89.2 grams per liter of residual sugar. Drinking rather well now, this has seductive texture and a balanced presentation, finishing with a touch of sugar and nuances of gracefully maturing Port. Laced with a touch of chocolate, it shows more power and grip as it airs out. When it was tasted again the next day, after plenty of air on Day 1, this showed even better, fresher and steelier. That's a good sign. It demonstrates that it has plenty of life left (hardly a surprise), but it has already acquired necessary complexity and seems fine now. Drink it or hold it. It's in a good place, but it can still improve.
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Wine Enthusiast
Showing slightly better than it did a year ago when last reviewed, the 2000 boasts sweet plum fruit, ample earthiness and refined spice flavors. As vintage Ports go, it’s not the biggest or most concentrated, but shows a fine sense of harmony and balance.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2000 Ramos Pintos Vintage Porto shows a tautness and firmness that seems different from other Port houses. Well-made and stylish, this one will mature nicely with a decade's time. Serve with a creamy blue veined cheese. (Tasted: October 27, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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.