Port

The Symington Family Return to London to Preview Some of the Most Exciting Vintage Port Releases of Modern Times – Tasting the Graham’s and Warre’s 2020 Vintage Ports…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The 2020 Port vintage was the smallest harvest this century and produced incredibly concentrated, well-structured, dark wines in very low quantities – with the most outstanding wines originating from the Cima Corgo sub-region of the Douro. Accordingly, the Symington family have chosen to do an exceptional limited release bottling of two special edition Vintage Ports from Graham’s and Warre’s – drawn exclusively from a few of the best performing parcels from their estates in the Cima Corgo.

These special Vintage Ports mark the historic milestones in 2020 of Graham’s 200th anniversary and Warre’s 350th anniversary, celebrations for both of which were cancelled by the onset of the Covid pandemic. The fact that the Douro’s terroir provides such a variety of microclimates is a huge advantage in a year like 2020.

It takes a rare constellation of events for quality to be consistently exceptional throughout the region (as in 2011, 2016 and 2017). In 2020, the Symingtons believe the extraordinary conditions of the year gave rise to some truly outstanding wines and were in London recently to preview the new releases with the Portuguese Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

“2020 was a real Cima Corgo vintage” ~ Charles Symington

Warre’s 2020 Vintage Port, 20% Abv.

A wonderfully luscious vintage port with a profound textural depth and aromatic complexity. Beautifully lifted and perfumed, the nose is at once compact, intense and packed full of black and blue berry fruits but also super pure and precise with hints of violets, cherry blossom, melted liquorice, black cherry and mulberry jam. The palate shows a fabulous balance of freshness, power and precision with a dense creamy textural intensity enlivened by the most vibrant integrated acidity together with plush creamy ripe sweet tannins. This Warre’s connects all the dots and delivers one of the most profound and invigorating young Port experiences possible.

(Wine Safari Score: 99/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Graham’s 2020 Vintage Port, 20% Abv.

Another colossal wine, the Graham’s Port displays all the 2020 vintage muscle, power and density with lovely earthy black berry notes, hints of black plum confit, black liquorice, freshly cut hedgerow sappy spice and subtle graphite nuances. The palate is crisp and precise with a magnificently polished marble texture, massive brooding density and a long, profound finish showing saline black currant confit with little fruit spikes of pristine red berry fruits. Impressively compact and complex, this should age incredibly well owing to its seamless harmony and sheer density. Really quite profound.

(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

A Fitting Send Off For Paul Symington – Tasting a Fabulous Array of Old Vintage Ports and Old Tawny Ports to Mark His Retirement…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Symington Family Estates is one of the most famous wine and Port houses in the whole of Portugal, which has owned and operated several vineyards and wineries since the 19th century. This family run business, now run by the 4th and 5th generations, owns several prestigious brands of Port, Madeira wine and Douro DOC wines, including some of the oldest and most well-known Port and Madeira offerings.

Today there are 10 family members working across the business, none more committed and married to the business than Paul Symington. A hugely influential and charismatic figure in the Port wine trade for many decades, Paul has finally called time as one of the figureheads of the Symington group and will be succeeded by his cousin, Johnny Symington, who will become chairman while Rupert Symington, previously joint managing director with Paul, will become CEO.

Over the past 20 years that I have worked in the London fine wine trade, it has always been Paul with his cool, calm, measured approach that has been the banner man and figurehead of the Symington Family Estates’ portfolio. So to mark this obviously sad but momentous decision, Paul, along with his long time importer in the UK, John E Fells, decided to go out in style with one of the most incredible Port tastings at the Armoury at the Tower of London.

With the veritable who’s who of the wine trade in attendance, we were treated to a tasting of some of the estate’s greatest wines over the past 100 years. The company is of course in safe hands but Paul will be missed by myself and many in the UK wine trade. Bon voyage et bon chance!

 

Graham 1994 Vintage Port

With 22 years in bottle, this is considered one of the best 3 or 4 post war vintage Ports according to the Symingtons. A classical beauty that is starting to reach a semblance of maturity showing an attractive bouquet of earthy beetroot, milk chocolate, aniseed root, dusty crushed granite, spicy black berry and sweet tobacco. Palate is dense and cool, creamy and sensual with an underlying backbone concealing incredible depth and power, fresh acids and wonderful harmony and balance. Utterly stunning but decades of life ahead of this wine.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Graham 1963 Vintage Port

An iconic vintage, this was marked as the first vintage in many years that actually made the family some decent money. At over 50 years old, there is a complexity of burnt brown sugar, polished oak, botanical herbs, oranges soaked in cognac and exotic wood spices. The palate shows creamy sweetness, caramelised depth, orange peel, bergamot, cinnamon spice and a spicy salted caramel finish. Mature but certainly delicious.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Dow 20 Year Old Tawny Port

A very different wine to the Graham 20 year old, this tawny shows an exotic spicy lifted nose with dusty minerality, dried orange peel, aniseed root, caramelised figs and cherries in cognac. Incredible tension and core power, fantastic textural precision and balance with an overall drier finish with complex notes of burnt sugar, spicy almonds, pistachio and salted liquorice. Tannins are beautifully elegant and lend a fine gravitas to the long, dry, mineral finish with the most subtle kiss of sweet tobacco and red bramble berry. A finely matured, mellow tawny that is very distinguished.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Graham 1982 Single Harvest Tawny Port

A wine released to commemorate the marriage of HRH Prince Harry to Meghan Markle in 2018. Aged in oak for over 3 decades at Graham’s 1890 Port lodge. 6 Pipes were selected for this exclusive bottling. The nose is very restrained and subtle, with interesting lactic notes of polished oak, butterscotch, pithy red cherry and dusty gravelly minerality. A striking wine that whispers its class, glides across the palate and lingers persistently in the mouth with notes of spiced oranges, cognac spice and vanilla pod. Liquid silk, this wine is as regal the the occasion is was bottled for. Beautiful.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Dow 40 Year Old Tawny Port

Plenty of patience required in creating this expression but it rewards with massive depth and power. The bouquet has almost more in common with Madeira than Tawny Port with a sweet / sour nose of red and black berries, sour plum, brine and a pronounced salty maritime sea breeze complexity. On the palate you see the concentration and power, depth and complexity of burnished oak, polished mahogany, burnt oranges, dried orchard fruits, praline and a sleek tea leaf finish. Beautiful and round, textured and showy, this has the opulence and presence to silence the noisiest room of wine merchants and wine critics.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Graham 1972 Single Harvest Tawny Port

Only a few barrels were selected in 1972 by Peter Symington for ageing in seasoned oak casks at the Vila Nova de Gaia lodge. Quite exotic with mature notes of wood spice, chocolate caramel wafers, almonds and dried orange peel. Not the most complex aromatic profile but certainly shows incredible fleshy opulence, creamy vibrant freshness, silky soft tannins with all components of this wine in a very happy harmony. One of those wines that confirms that sometimes less is definitely more. Low volume but incredibly melodious.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Cockburn 1969 Single Harvest Tawny Port

A sample drawn straight from cask that is currently ageing at the Cockburn lodge in Gaia and is not currently available on the market. This is also the birth year of head winemaker Charles Symington so holds a special position in the sentiments of the family. The bouquet is brimming with sweet wood spice, polished mahogany, oranges macerated in cognac and a subtle nutty almond peel intensity. Full and opulent, this shows a deliciously fresh and vibrant palate that is thoroughly tantalising and alluring with salted caramel, cognac and vanilla spice, dried orange peel and salty, briney fresh acids. Fleshy and harmonious, this is a very impressive fine wine expression that the market will eagerly watch and wait for!!

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Graham 1963 Single Harvest Tawny Port

This vintage produced some of the finest Tawny Ports of the 20th century. Aged for over 50 years this wine shows incredible subtlety and finesse, delicacy and elegance with notes of dried orange peel, barley sugar, dried maraschino cherries, nutty almond powder and deliciously intriguing wood spice complexity. Beautifully fresh and vibrant, this wine reveals the most regal of tannin structures, a bright crystalline purity, weightless concentration and a delicious tangerine and salted toffee finish. This is incredibly fine, thoroughly distinguished and a definite show stopper. Wow!

(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Graham 90 Year Old Tawny Port

Specially bottled to commemorate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, this very fine old Tawny is an extraordinary blend of 1912, 1924 and 1935 and is one of the rarest wines in the Symington range. Each vintage seems to build on the shoulders of the next rising to an ever higher level of complexity. The blending was done to incorporate the colour and acid intensity of the 1935, the rich hedonistic honied opulence of the 1924 and the extraordinary complexity and intensity of the concentrated 1912. A dark tawny opaque brown colour, the bouquet is fiery and a touch spirity but also loaded with ample notes of salted caramel, butterscotch and nutty cognac wood spice. The palate is regal and fleshy with the most delicious concentration enlivened by bristling acids, creamy burnt sugar sweetness and finishes with the most complex dried fruit and coffee caramel finish. Beautiful power, towering elegance and nearly unrivalled hedonistic showmanship. Utterly spellbinding.

(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

 

Postscriptum: This was a truly amazing tasting of some of the greatest ports ever produced. So if any readers looking at my high scores are thinking I have succumb to a bout of score inflation, think again. This really was one of the most accomplished and remarkable line ups of mature Port that I have ever had the privilege of tasting altogether.

Tasting Another Epic 2015 Vintage Port Release…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

It’s vintage Port time again and while I  have already done extensive commentary on the Niepoort 2015s, there have of course been some epic declarations from both the Symingtons (Warres, Dows, Graham, Cockburn) and the Fladgate Partnership (Taylor’s and Fonseca).


An agreed vintage year normally requires a certain degree of homogeneous grape quality across the lower, middle, and upper Douro. In 2015, it’s safe to say that the the upper Douro was in a league of its own, producing some of the best Ports since 2011.


One of these wines, the Stone Terraces vineyard, which is comprised of three parcels in a narrow curving valley, all of which are immediately adjacent; one faces north, known as “Cardenhos”, whilst the other two, face each other across the Sibio brook. Most of the southerly facing Malvedos vineyard were subjected to trying conditions in 2015, and it was the Old Vine Stone Terraces portion that were shielded from excessive heat, thus producing exceptional fruit.


The schist soils on the cooler exposures ensured that the Stone Terraces Cuvee performed yet again, as it did in its maiden 2011 vintage. Fruit was picked at an ideal maturity of 13.75 baume, and trodden for four hours in the new Symington lagares at Malvedos. The wine was then fermented at low temperatures to enhance the warm climate aromatics.

The Stone Terraces 2015 has subsequently emerged as one of the very best Ports of the vintage along with Niepoort, Noval, and Vesuvio. Seek it out and buy with confidence. 

The Symingtons explaining the complicated 2015 vintage.

Graham’s The Stone Terraces Viintage Port 2015, 20% Abv., Douro

Only the second time produced, the anticipation waiting to taste this wine was intense. But this warm dry vintage in the upper Douro delivers yet again. There is a sweet opulent nose of raspberries and cream, bramble berry, strawberry confit, and mocha wood spice nuances. Beautifully rich and concentrated, this wine offers up damson plum, liquorice, salty cassis and the most seductive creamy sweet mineral tannins in a pristine, textural, harmonious package. Finely integrated acids with high quality spirit, seamless fruit concentration and a very long, lingering, pin point finish make for a very smart vintage port indeed. 

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Niepoort Port Masterclass with Dirk Niepoort to Celebrate the 2015 Vintage Declaration in London…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Few tastings are more fascinating than listening to and tasting with master wine maker Dirk Niepoort. It’s as much fun listening to his philosophy on winemaking and the world of wine as it is tasting his superb wines. Last week, Dirk and his importer Raymond Reynolds hosted an excellent Masterclass to celebrate the declaration of Dirk’s 2015 vintage Ports.


The 2015 viticultural year was the hottest and driest growing season of the last three decades, but abundant late autumn rain in 2014 and crucial spring rain in the Douro Superior, most unusually more than in the Alto Douro, produced exceptional conditions for ripening. 


Niepoort 2015 Vintage Port, Douro

Brilliant purple colour, this vintage is so exceptionally lush and fragrantly expressive. Layer upon layer of ripe plums, mulberries, sweet bramble berries and sweet raisined cranberry aromatics waft out the glass combining with an alluring dusty minerality, smoked spices and primary grapey notes. The palate is very finely knit together showing super elegance. The complete wine is so light on its feet, so focused, so precise with salty liquorice, damson plums, black berry and sweet creamy tannins. The freshness really defines this wine and helps elevate the perfume, fruit and the overall concentration. Real power with sublime harmony. This really is an impressive, very vinous Port, that Dirk considers to be one of his best creations yet. 

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW) 


After tasting the beautiful 2015, Dirk ran through another two famous recent vintages to add extra context. The Niepoort 2011 Vintage Port is a beast of a wine, dense, dark, brooding, almost monolithic. It is a hedonistic journey into one of the most powerful, turbo charged, and structured vintages of recent times. This is one for the long haul. (98/100 GS)

Then, we tasted the Niepoort 2005. A bit of a sleeper, this vintage has a nose full of dark, earthy, bramble berry fruits, prunes, dried leather, raisined cranberries, and chocolate with a tight, dominating mineral finish. Slightly more rustic in style than either the 2011 or 2015. (95+/100 GS)


The Bioma Pisca Single Vineyard Ports

A few years ago, Dirk identified the Pisca Vineyard that continuously produced a unique expression from 80 to 100 year old vines. These 5 hectares of South facing vineyards are certified organic and yield around 12 HL/HA before being aged at Quinta do Napoles in 550 litre Port pipes.


Niepoort Bioma Vinhas Velhas Vintage Port 2015, Douro

Bioma Vinha Velha is a super rich, fleshy wine with an exotic, lifted nose showing savoury black fruits, sake nuances, rice wine, black brambly fruit and forest berries. Palate is massively dense, concentrated and powerful. Very intense black berry, kirsch, and cassis intensity is impressive. Tannins are ripe and sweet and superbly balanced with fresh acids and a creamy, textured minerality. Sweet and intense but finishes dry and long. 

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW) 

The 2015 was certainly head and shoulders ahead in quality, precision and focus when we compared it to both the powerful, mineral Bioma 2013 (95+/100 GS) and the slightly reductive, saline, more rustic Bioma Pisca 2007 (94+/100 GS). But the true highlight of the Masterclass had to be the historic final pair of Ports – the Vintage Port 1970 and the Garrafeira Port 1952.


Niepoort Vintage Port 1970, Douro

Now I’ve tasted the Niepoort Vintage Port 1970 several times with Dirk over the years and every time we’ve drunk it, it has delivered sheer hedonistic pleasure, being a wine embroidered with such complexity and vinous interest. This time was no different and all the hallmark notes were there… sweet stewed red fruit aromatics, hedgerow spice, diesel rag, chocolate and earthy root notes, salty caramel and hints of fungal lift with shiitake mushroom nuances and a long finish of stewed black berries balanced with fresh acids and sweet, soft tannins. A beguiling wine that grows in the glass and unfurls into a multi-layered Port experience. 

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW) 


Then, as if the famed 1970 wasn’t enough, Dirk treated us to a true rarity… the 1952 Garrafeira Port which was bottled into demijohns in 1955 and then re-bottled into 75cl bottles in 1987. Beautifully foresty and earthy, the ’52 has plenty of complex tertiary aromas of mushrooms, damp earth, oil rag, burnt oranges, cognac wood spice and an unctuous, nutty intrigue. Caramelised bruleed notes develop as the wine opens up, finishing with a grippy, mineral, almond skin, picante length. Tantalising! 

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW) 


All that can be said after this amazing tasting is that it is abundantly clear that Vintage Port is undoubtedly one of the world’s truly great fine wines and also currently one of the most affordable. But how much longer will this be the case? Now is certainly a good time to buy!

Celebrating the 325th Anniversary of Taylor’s Port…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

So honoured to be invited to the fabulous 325th anniversary celebration of Taylor’s Port at the Tower of London. It’s hard to fathom the history and the achievements of this fabulous Port house over such a lengthy period of time.


The highlight of the evening, other than chatting to Rugby World Cup 2003 winner Lawrence Dallaglio, was tasting the truly individual new anniversary Port blend that was launched tonight. Another gem in the Taylor’s armoury…

Mr Port & Madeira Richard Mayson with Lawrence Dallaglio

Taylor’s 325th Anniversary Limited Edition Tawny Port, Douro

A superbly complex nose of tarte tatin, baked apples, bruleed oranges, botanicals and cognac spice. So opulent and complex that it’s difficult to pin this wine down. Multiple exotic notes develop on the palate as you allow the wine to open up. Rich and focused, there is beautiful concentration, fabulous acids and that nutty, picante, burnt citrus and caramelised apple pie intensity with real glycerol weight and breadth. The finish is super spicy, peppery, with almond skin bitterness balanced by the sweet nutty, caramelised opulence. This is a true tribute to a complex Port style and a supremely premium producer.

(Wine safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)