Burmester Port house was founded in Porto in 1750 by English and German merchants and is one of the oldest names in Port wine. Its vintage Ports are crafted only in exceptional ‘declared’ years, drawing on grapes from the Douro Valley’s finest quintas, including the historic Quinta do Arnozelo. Known for their elegance, structure, and remarkable ageing potential, these wines balance ripe dark fruit with fine tannins and a floral, spicy complexity. Burmester vintages tend toward a refined, less overtly powerful style than some rivals, rewarding patient cellaring for decades. Prized by collectors and connoisseurs, they represent over two and a half centuries of Port-making tradition and craftsmanship.
The 2024 vintage was widely declared across the Douro confirming it as a year of exceptional quality, intensity and balance. Favourable growing conditions allowed for excellent ripening while preserving freshness, resulting in wines with a classical structure, depth and plenty of ageing potential. Fully declared vintages remain relatively rare, adding to the collectability and long-term appeal of this release.
Harvested by hand at their optimal point, the grapes are destemmed, crushed, and vinified using a process based on careful maceration to extract colour, tannins, and aromas from the skins, complemented by constant pump-overs during fermentation. This takes place in lagares (traditional stone troughs), at a controlled temperature between 28-30ºC, until the desired Baumé degree is reached. At this stage, grape brandy is added (fortification), resulting in a fortified Port wine. This wine is of exceptional quality, from a single harvest, and must be bottled between the second and third year after harvest.
Burmester Vintage Port 2024, Douro, 20% Abv.
A wonderfully deep coloured sumptuous wine made from a blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Alicante Bouschet, the aromatics are fragrant and intense with lush notes of sweet violets, macerated black cherries, black currants and mulberry fruits with hints of potpourri spice and a dusty graphite minerality. The palate is as expressive as the nose, richly textured, fine grained and layered with intense black berry fruits, hints of spicey black plum, crème de cassis and subtle salty black liquorice nuances. The delicate chocolate praline notes add to this wine’s incredible elegance, freshness and polished structure that melts away into a long, pure, harmonious finish. This is a beautiful Vintage Port of great balance and intensity. Enjoy its purity in its youth or age for 30+ years.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)