Results for: "Pinotage"

Juicy and vibrant with plenty of red fruit and red floral essences, the 2022 The First Lady Pinotage is bright and attractive in the glass. Medium-bodied and with lively acidity, it offers firm tannins with a clean, succulent finish that is ready for food. The wine rested for a year in various types of oak, 8% new, (AM)

One of the best Ashbourne releases yet, this fully justifies Anthony Hamilton Russell's claim that this often under-valued grape can produce world-class wines. Sourced from a six--year old 2.2-hectare vineyard on heavy clays, it's alluringly perfumed and intense, with potpourri and rose petal aromas, caressing tannins, pomegranate and wild strawberry flavours and a racy, balanced finish.

Plums, cherries and chocolate orange on the nose of this juicy red. It’s full-bodied with ripe tannins. Nicely balanced. (CN)

This is a fragrant pinotage, showing mint-chocolate, cedar, cherry, spiced-plum and nutmeg aromas. Firm, spicy and full-bodied on the palate with firm yet ripe tannins and a long, spicy and focused finish. Better after 2025.

Direct and approachable, offering aromas of dark fruit with savory and earthy complexity. Medium-bodied, firm and fresh, with a silky texture and a juicy mid-palate. (AS)

A vibrant red, with a core of ripe mulberry, raspberry and boysenberry fruit flavors. Light, supple tannins and lively acidity provide fine definition for the medium-bodied frame, and notes of violet, thyme, anise and iron linger on the finish. Drink now through 2030. (AN)

Founded in 1685 by Cape governor Simon van der Stel, Groot Constantia is South Africa’s oldest wine-producing estate. This 2023 red brings that historic Constantia address together with Pinotage, the distinctively South African grape created in 1925 by viticulturist Abraham Perold through a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut.

Bid on this 4-bottle tasting lot; including 1-bottle of 2009 Terra Valentine "Amore" Napa Valley Sangiovese, 1-bottle of 2012 Kanonkop Pinotage Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, 1-bottle of 2014 Poças "Simbolo" Douro , and 1-bottle of 2016 Montepeloso "Eneo" Toscana (96VN, 94JS). Of the 2016 Montepeloso "Eneo" Toscana, Vinous writes: "The 2016 Eneo is a dark, sumptuous beauty. Black cherry, plum, lavender, spice, menthol and licorice infuse the 2016 with striking depth as well as tons of textural resonance. Rich and expansive on the palate, the 2016 builds effortlessly through to its layered, super-expressive finish. This is such a gorgeous, alluring wine, especially for the money. (AG)" (03/2020)

Finding a properly aged Montepulciano d'Abruzzo of this pedigree is a rare thrill. While visiting one of the region’s most historic, traditional estates—a family famous for holding their top wines back for a decade or more before release—I was offered a tiny allocation of this magnificent 2011 from their personal library. The 2011 vintage was warm and generous, yielding a wine of immense concentration that has now softened into absolute elegance after years of perfect cellaring. The nose is incredibly complex, offering layers of baked blackberry, dried plum, cured tobacco, leather, and a signature hint of dark cocoa. On the palate, the once-massive tannins have melted into a velvety, seamless texture, carrying savory notes of balsamic and earth through a remarkably long, persistent finish. It is a profound, soul-stirring expression of mature Abruzzo that is fully ready to drink tonight, offering an unforgettable experience of aged Italian wine without the typical premium.

I love this- what a great combination of the elegance of Billecart-Salmon vintage champagne inside the bottle, and celebratory fun on the label! This celebrates not only the 200th anniversary of this house, but also 250 years of the USA. I love how the frame of baguette toast and dark cherry Pinot Noir power coalesce on the generous nose of this wine. It has great richness in the mouth without being heavy and features lovely white flowers as well as super salinity. This is a great 2018 from Billecart!

Year after year, Signatory brings us some of the best casks anywhere in the industry, and over the past two years they have recommitted to putting absolutely insane deals on the table for us. This year it’s a selection of classic Islays alongside this impeccable Ben Nevis. There was a period just a few years ago when similar casks were trading for twice this price, but here we have an absolutely perfect refill sherry butt, still very active, that simply transcends the market. There’s almost nothing anywhere in the world that’s better on the market today in this style, dollar for dollar. Here we go! This is ridiculously dark for a second fill sherry cask, a gorgeous mahogany (1.6). The nose is a huge mélange of waxy, earthy funk, pulverized rock, and sweet roasted nuts. It’s clearly holding so much at bay in its cask strength form, and air opens it into a basket of walnut brittle, loose leaf tobacco, dried cranberry, carnauba wax, old bike parts, semi dark chocolate, and dashi broth. Not at all for the faint of heart. We love an idiosyncratic Ben Nevis, but for the uninitiated we may need to take baby steps. On the palate it’s rich and oily, offering huge savory underbrush and salty nuts balanced by sweet raisin fruit and an underlying oily texture. It’s simply quintessentially, unapologetically original Ben Nevis. With water it softens and sweetens somewhat, though in this rare case I truly prefer it with air and time rather than the softening effect of water. The only complaint might come from those hoping for a Nevis in skimpier clothes, but the sherry is so well integrated and never overwhelms the density of the spirit that even the most staunch anti oak brigadier general might admit the superiority of this style. If you have only $80 to spend on malt this quarter and don’t need something peaty, this is the obvious slam dunk you’ve been looking for. I’m buying three.

This remarkable expression from the Arran Distillery in Lochranza on the Isle of Arran is not the oldest Arran ever released, but it comes remarkably close. It is easily the oldest Arran we have ever sold and one of the oldest independent bottlings yet to reach the market. Distilled in 1996, just one year after the distillery opened, it represents an important benchmark for this exceptional modern producer, which has consistently delivered superb malt despite all the challenges of operating as an independent distillery in Scotland. Ordinarily, we would expect a new distillery to need several years to find its stride and produce whisky worthy of extended maturation, but this cask makes it clear that Arran had things dialed in from the beginning. Bottled at an incredible 27 years old, it stands stylistically alongside the finest mature Highland malts selling for many times the price. It is no powerhouse or smoke bomb, but it offers a delicacy that borders on the transcendent. Let’s taste it. The color is a shimmering old gold (0.6). The nose is hushed at first, but give it a little air and it begins to blossom: fine honey, fresh apricot, vanilla flowers, hints of cacao and shea butter, quince, distant ocean air, old oak, and citrus oil. The palate is extraordinarily delicate without ever feeling thin or overly oaked. Sweet, lightly roasted nuts mingle beautifully with the fresh fruit before giving way to a mid-palate surge of malt and a long, striking thread of oak spice. A tiny drop of water softens the faintly bitter spice on the finish, revealing an immensely drinkable, almost sweet, aperitif-style old Highland malt of the highest order. It is so beautifully composed that it comes as no surprise to see bottles selling for several hundred dollars more in the UK. Thanks to a new relationship with this bottler, however, we are able to offer this rare and impressive whisky at a price well below the prevailing market.

The 2018 Billecart-Salmon 250th Anniversary Cuvée was released to mark two milestones at once: the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the 200th anniversary of the House of Billecart-Salmon. The U.S. has long been one of Billecart’s most important export markets, so this bottling was created as a commemorative release for that relationship, and the fact that 2018 was an exceptional vintage made the project even more fitting. In maganum! The wine is made from 100% Grand Cru and Premier Cru fruit, with a blend of 65% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and 35% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs. Just 3% of the cuvée was vinified in oak, with the balance aged in stainless steel, then the wine spent 63 months sur latte before being finished as an Extra Brut with 4.9 g/L dosage.

The small but mighty bottler, now based deep on the Kintyre Peninsula, is doing some very exciting work. They have bottled exceptional casks at excellent prices and are part of an ambitious new project at the old RAF base near Campbeltown. The Campbeltown Bond is one of the most forward-thinking warehouse concepts in Scotland, an autonomous system allowing bottlers to access and assess casks in minutes rather than weeks in a traditional dunnage. This lovely bottling from the excellent Speyside distillery in the eponymously named hamlet continues to show why it produces some of the most compelling independent bottlings on the market today. Distilled on August 8th, 2006 and bottled on January 25th, 2024, this single cask was released without chill filtration or coloring at 52% ABV. Thick and unctuous, this Craigellachie captures both sides of this singular malt, offering huge, rich fruit alongside its earthy, meaty character. A robust, powerful style, yet balanced with just enough sweetness to temper its old-school intensity.

Made from 60% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay and pouring a vibrant silver/yellow color, the 2018 Champagne Brut Vintage (like all these wines) was aged in stainless steel without any oak. In the glass, it opens to springy and dewy floral aromas of honeydew melon, fresh flowers, citrus blossoms, and pastry dough. Medium-bodied and inviting, it’s approachable now and takes on a more mineral character on the palate without ever feeling austere. All its components move seamlessly through the palate, with a refined mousse and a kiss of sunny feel on the finish nodding to the warmth of the vintage, but it’s clean and refined all the way through. This is going to improve with age, but it’s quite enjoyable now. Drink over the coming 15 or so years. It was made exclusively from Premier Cru and Grand Cru villages, was aged for 6 years on the lees, and saw 7-8 grams per liter dosage.

Saturated black/purple-colored, with stunning aromatics of blueberries, blackberries, licorice, and iron, this spectacular vintage port is one of the stars of the vintage. Extremely full-bodied, with silky tannin, spectacular concentration and purity, multiple flavor levels, and an evolved, forward personality, this is an exquisite yet precocious 1997 vintage port. (RP)

Taylor's 1992 Vintage Port is unquestionably the greatest young port I have ever tasted. It represents the essence of what vintage port can achieve. The color is an opaque black/purple, and the nose offers up fabulously intense aromas of minerals, cassis, blackberries, licorice, and spices, as well as extraordinary purity and penetration. Yet this is still an unformed and infantile wine. If Chateau Latour made a late-harvest Cabernet Sauvignon, I suspect it might smell like this. In the mouth, the wine is out of this world, displaying layer upon layer of concentrated black fruits backed by well-integrated tannin and structure. This is a massive, magnificently rich, full-bodied port that will be far more flattering in its youth than were such Taylors as the 1983, 1977, or 1970. It possesses awesome fruit, marvelous intensity, and lavish opulence, all brilliantly well-delineated by the wine's formidable structure. This monumental 30-50 year port is a must purchase for port aficionados! (RP)

The collection of Armagnacs we have amassed includes more than 80 vintages of Bas-Armagnac and Armagnac, bottled at various times over the last 30 years, but very few compare to this outrageous vintage. Buying the same stocks today would easily cost over $2,000 a bottle and likely would not be as good as this, which was bottled way back in 1995. This was already matured to the maximum possible level after 70 years, and any more time in oak might have pushed it over the edge. Certain other vintages we sell are technically older than this but were distilled later. Armagnac is true magic. No other spirit offers such incredible aging potential while remaining relatively accessible to the average buyer. Let us see what 70 years in barrel can do. The nose starts dense and full of OBE, the Old Bottle Effect. It's slightly oily, slightly metallic, but not off-putting. With air, it opens to reveal an incredible array of exotic woods and spices: cedar, sandalwood, balsam, dried mint, dried rose petals, sarsaparilla, blackberry compote, coffee beans, and graphite. On the palate, expect big roasted baking spices, dark fruit, earthy warehouse floor, rich oak, and medium tannins that are not hard or harsh at all. The finish is medium and begs to be followed by another sip. An incredible value that we simply will not be able to match in the future.

Capurro is known for their single vintage, single variety Piscos and their extreme commitment to quality. While the minimum resting period for Peruvian Pisco is 3 months, Capurro rests theirs until they feel it has achieved its maximum expressive potential - in this case 39 long months! The Quebranta is a Pisco varietal that has parentage in the California Mission Grape. The aromatics are more savory than fruity. They have an earthy, almost dusty tone to them. The flair really comes in the weight and texture of the Quebranta. It's heavier than the other varieties and emulsifies the best for egg based cocktails. If you're making tons of Pisco Sours this will make your life a little easier. The added weight of the Pisco also lets you cut back the sugar in the cocktail just a little.

For devotees of Springbank, vintage releases occupy a category of their own, and this extraordinary 1994 bottling captures everything that has made the distillery one of Scotland’s most revered producers. Established in Campbeltown in 1828, Springbank remains fiercely traditional, carrying out the entire production process on site and preserving labor-intensive methods long abandoned elsewhere. Its lightly peated spirit and unusual two-and-a-half-times distillation create the oily texture, maritime depth, and eccentric complexity that define the house style. This rare vintage marries whisky matured in 80% bourbon, 10% sherry, and 10% red wine casks, bottled at 45.1% ABV with just 1,180 bottles released. The nose opens with dried pineapple, mango, ripe melon, honey, sandalwood, and that unmistakable earthy, old-school Springbank character. The palate brings caramelized lemon, custard cream, tropical fruit, polished wood, and toffee popcorn before turning savory and herbal on the finish, with coconut, fresh basil, gorse, and lingering Campbeltown earthiness. A deeply individual malt and a genuine piece of Springbank history.

While Capurro Pisco is always single vintage and typically single varietal, the Acholado is a blend of the other 3 grape varieties. The balance here is tremendous and if you're looking for your first great Pisco experience, this is it. There is a great balance between stone fruits and an earthy flavor that offers a faint hint of grass. The texture and finish here are excellent and it will emulsify easily in your Pisco Sour - the key to any good egg based cocktail. Not just for mixing, this also offers a great drinking experience when served neat or with a dose of citrus.

Chinaco remains one of the truly foundational names in premium tequila, and this tiny 2026 release celebrates the brand’s 50th anniversary in extraordinary fashion. Bottled in the original conic vintage glass with the vintage label, this limited edition is just 300 bottles total and represents a genuine collaboration across generations. The heart of the blend is predominantly 2002 Extra Añejo, aged three years, created from reserve Añejo originally coveted by Guillermo’s father and grandfather. That rare old stock is blended with a one-year Añejo made from their finest agave, bringing the average age to 30 months and offering a remarkable link between Chinaco’s past and present. It is extremely rare to see tequila with this kind of historical continuity, let alone from one of the producers that helped define the modern category. For collectors and serious agave drinkers, this is exactly the kind of bottle that disappears once and never returns.

Smith Woodhouse’s 2015 Late Bottled Vintage Port was matured in wood for four years. Bottled in 2019, without any fining or filtering, it was then aged in bottle for a further six years in the Smith Woodhouse lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia, prior to release. This prolonged ageing, first in wood and then in bottle is key to the development of the rich and spice-forward aromas and flavors that give this Port a style and complexity akin to that of Vintage Port. Most LBV Ports produced today are matured exclusively in wood, filtered before bottling and placed on the market without any bottle-ageing. Smith Woodhouse’s traditional method of maturation, combining both wood and bottle-ageing, distinguishes it from most other LBV Ports currently available.

Fresh flowers, such as fresh violets and lilacs, with some melons and red apples on the nose. Medium to full body with bitter lemon and lime with walnut and brazil-nut undertones. Tangy, too. Delicate finish. A blend of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, ribolla and malvasia. Drink or hold.

Fonseca has scored in both the 1991 and 1992 vintages. The 1992 is a majestic young port that should ultimately rival, perhaps even surpass this house's most recent great efforts (1985, 1977, 1970, 1963). This colossal vintage port reveals a nearly opaque black/purple color, and an explosive nose of jammy black fruits, licorice, chocolate, and spices. Extremely full-bodied and unctuously-textured, this multi-layered, enormously-endowed port reveals a finish that lasts for over a minute. It is a magnificent port that will age well for 30-40 years.

Vaghi Armagnac is an independent bottler dedicated to preserving the individuality and quiet grandeur of Armagnac. Rather than distilling itself, Vaghi curates exceptional casks from traditional, often family-run producers, releasing them with minimal intervention to preserve their natural character. The focus is on single-cask, vintage-dated Armagnacs, frequently bottled at natural strength and presented with clear, transparent labeling. Shaped by traditional distillation and long maturation in oak, these spirits evolve from vibrant eaux-de-vie into layered, harmonious expressions marked by fruit, spice, and depth rather than weight. Spanning nearly a century of distillation, this library offers a rare perspective on Armagnac through individual vintages—each bottle a singular, unrepeatable record of time, place, and tradition.

The 1980 Taylor's Vintage Port has a deep, clear garnet colour. The nose is very backward, quite austere and conservative with notes of cherry and raspberry leaf, a touch of cigar box developing with aeration. It perhaps lacks a little joie-de-vivre, especially when compared to vintages in the 1970s. The palate is attractive though, with notes of raspberry, plum, white pepper, blood orange and a touch of apricot. This 1980 has good acidity but plays it safe, unwilling to take chances. Yet there is perceptible lushness on the finish with black plum notes despite lacking the precision of the great vintages. (NM)

Shows the intense ripeness of the vintage with hints of raisins and other dried fruits. Full-bodied, medium sweet and so very velvety. A big mouthful. Superb. Just starting to open.

A ripe, forward and flattering style, with boysenberry and blackberry pâte de fruit notes melding with black licorice through the succulent, open finish. (JM)

The small but mighty bottler, now based deep on the Kintyre Peninsula, is doing some very exciting work. They have bottled exceptional casks at excellent prices and are part of an ambitious new project at the old RAF base near Campbeltown. The Campbeltown Bond is one of the most forward-thinking warehouse concepts in Scotland, an autonomous system allowing bottlers to access and assess casks in minutes rather than weeks in a traditional dunnage. This lovely bottling from the historic Speyside distillery of Benriach continues to highlight the versatility and unusual distillates available at the special plant near Elgin. Distilled on December 22nd, 2008 and bottled on August 29th of 2024 at 48.3% ABV, this 14-year-old single cask was released in a limited outturn of just 378 bottles, offering a focused snapshot of the distillery’s character. Thick yet precise, it leans into a clean, lightly smoky profile with subtle leather and confectionary sweetness, recalling open jars of liquorice and nut toffee. The palate balances that gentle savoriness with soft chocolate and a warming, rounded finish. A composed and quietly complex dram that shows Benriach’s ability to marry purity with depth.

Burdekin Vintage Cane Rum is a wildly original Australian take on fresh cane rum, made from freshly pressed local sugarcane fermented with the distillery’s unique yeast blend, distilled in their hybrid pot/column still, and aged up to two years in carefully selected Pedro Ximénez sherry barrels. That combination of grassy, aromatic cane juice spirit and rich PX cask influence gives this bottling a personality unlike almost anything else in the rum world. It brings together fresh-cut cane, tropical fruit funk, toffee, mixed spice, vanilla oak, brown sugar, fig, and a long, warming finish with the darker fruit and textural richness of sherry cask maturation. The awards are stacked: 2024 Champion Rum and Gold at the Royal Queensland Spirits Awards, 2023 Double Gold and Best in Category from the American Distilling Institute, 2024 Gold at San Francisco IWSC, 2025 Gold with a 92.17 score at the Royal Melbourne Spirit Awards, and 2026 Gold at the Ultimate Awards Miami Rum Congress. This is bold, distinctive, and deeply flavorful cane rum for adventurous drinkers.

This is really glorious and refined, offering a polished and creamy texture. Complex aromas and flavors with cream, dried fruit and nuts. Medium body. Very beautiful. A refined and glorious 1977 now. Real deal.

Vintage Port doesn't seem like the right wine in the middle of the summer but I had an Amarone producer for dinner the other night in Tuscany and he had never drunk a wine from his birth year. He was lucky enough to have been born in 1977 - a great Port year! I found a bottle of 1977 Fonseca in my cellar - probably my last. It was absolutely gorgeous. I gave this fortified wine a perfect score in its youth and I think it has finally evolved into its perfection as a mature vintage Port. Here is the tasting note. 1977 Fonseca Vintage Port: This is in total balance now with such harmony. What amazing aromas of berry and flowers. Full and sweet, the tannins are complete dissolved. The fruit is perfect. This goes on for minutes. Drink now. But it will go forever.

Punchy, juicy and fresh in feel, with flavors of açaí berry, mulberry and blackberry preserves that are laced with hints of licorice root, ganache and graphite. A subtle Turkish coffee hint flitters in the background. Very solid. Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. Best from 2038 through 2050. (JM)

Niepoort, pioneer in Douro still wines, has produced a fine, ripe Port. It is elegant with a red rose aroma, a core of tannins and a firm edge of tannin. (RV)

Frapin’s roots in the Charente date to 1270, and the family has cultivated vines for more than 20 generations. This 1994 vintage Cognac comes from Grande Champagne, the premier cru at the heart of the Cognac appellation, and was chosen as a barrel selection for PM Spirits—a distinctive meeting of historic estate provenance, vintage identity, and independent selection.

In a word, superb. It's full-bodied, moderately sweet and incredibly tannic, but there's amazing finesse and refinement to the texture, not to mention fabulous, concentrated aromas of raspberries, violets and other flowers. Perhaps the greatest Taylor ever, it's better than either the '92 or the '70, though it's very like the '70 in structure. Best after 2010.

92 points Wine Spectator: "Shows aromas of very ripe fruit and sweet tobacco, with hints of earth and spices. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with round, velvety tannins and a long, fruity finish. Likeable for its soft texture. Best after 2016. Tasted twice, with consistent notes." (05/09)

I drank quite a bit of the 1970 Graham’s over the course of the 1990s, but had not crossed paths with a bottle in several years until this most recent example. The wine is superb in 1970, as it displays a bouquet of voluptuous complexity, offering up scents of black cherry, plum, cedar, fresh mint, chocolate, a bit of tobacco leaf, and lovely, estery floral topnotes. On the palate the wine is focused and opulent, with fine framing acidity adding a note of precision to the attack, and with excellent freshness and balance on the softly tannic, long and creamy finish. This is a classic example of Graham’s in its more extroverted and fruit-driven style, and it should continue to drink well for the next 40 or more years.

This is really glorious and refined, offering a polished and creamy texture. Complex aromas and flavors with cream, dried fruit and nuts. Medium body. Very beautiful. A refined and glorious 1977 now. Real deal.

Thomas Hardy’s Ale was first brewed in 1968 by Dorset brewer Eldridge Pope to commemorate the 40th anniversary of novelist Thomas Hardy’s death. This 2024 English barleywine continues the label’s longstanding tradition of vintage-dated releases, presented in a compact 25 cl bottle.

The 2000 Fonseca continues to exude finesse and focus on the nose, with pure blackberry, juniper berries, licorice and a touch of sloes, perhaps as Adrian Bridge remarked, just beginning to close after ten years in bottle. The palate is underpinned by very fine tannins, a sensual, svelte texture with wonderful acidity. The harmony and symmetry is alluring, the finish precise and demonstrating the persistency to suggest a long future ahead. (NM)

The 1955 Taylor's Vintage Port is tight on the nose with notes of red cherry, fig, marmalade and tobacco leaf, all quite conservative and correct. The palate is very well balanced, beautifully defined and graceful but it does not have the brio, the hubris of the 1945 or 1948, missing the intellectual dimension of the greatest Taylor Ports. There are no tangible faults. It remains a wonderful mature Port cut from a similar cloth as a 1966 Bordeaux inasmuch that it is conservative and masculine. Yet, it is fresh and precocious towards the finish. (NM)

Vaghi Armagnac is an independent bottler dedicated to preserving the individuality and quiet grandeur of Armagnac. Rather than distilling itself, Vaghi curates exceptional casks from traditional, often family-run producers, releasing them with minimal intervention to preserve their natural character. The focus is on single-cask, vintage-dated Armagnacs, frequently bottled at natural strength and presented with clear, transparent labeling. Shaped by traditional distillation and long maturation in oak, these spirits evolve from vibrant eaux-de-vie into layered, harmonious expressions marked by fruit, spice, and depth rather than weight. Spanning nearly a century of distillation, this library offers a rare perspective on Armagnac through individual vintages—each bottle a singular, unrepeatable record of time, place, and tradition.

Taylor's 1992 Vintage Port is unquestionably the greatest young port I have ever tasted. It represents the essence of what vintage port can achieve. The color is an opaque black/purple, and the nose offers up fabulously intense aromas of minerals, cassis, blackberries, licorice, and spices, as well as extraordinary purity and penetration. Yet this is still an unformed and infantile wine. If Chateau Latour made a late-harvest Cabernet Sauvignon, I suspect it might smell like this. In the mouth, the wine is out of this world, displaying layer upon layer of concentrated black fruits backed by well-integrated tannin and structure. This is a massive, magnificently rich, full-bodied port that will be far more flattering in its youth than were such Taylors as the 1983, 1977, or 1970. It possesses awesome fruit, marvelous intensity, and lavish opulence, all brilliantly well-delineated by the wine's formidable structure. This monumental 30-50 year port is a must purchase for port aficionados! (RP)

This is a fantastic young port with a depth and richness. Dark berry with forest flower, bark and spice. Full-bodied yet compacted and beautiful. Rich finish. Just a baby. Real and typical. Better to leave this for four or five years still.

Amazingly, the importer still has tiny stocks of such legendary ports as the 1970, 1963, and 1962 Nacionals. In most vintages the production of Quinta do Noval Nacional is no more than 250-275 cases. The 1970,1963,1962 and 1994 are candidates to achieve perfect scores. Remarkably, the 1962 Nacional exhibited an even more opaque color than the 1970, as well as exquisite richness and concentration. Massive (but not in the Taylor style), this phenomenally concentrated, complex, still youthful vintage port is a tour de force in winemaking, and one of the greatest, can you believe this, young vintage ports I have ever tasted. This wine needs another 5-10 years to reach full maturity as neither the color nor aromatics reveal much development. It could easily have one-hundred years of longevity. (RP)

Very dry in style, with a grippy alder spine carrying bitter plum, black currant and juniper notes. Shows some wild herb and violet notes as well, gaining intensity and grip through the finish. Tightly focused and very distinctive. (JM, Web-2018)