2007
Vintage Ports
Assessing the latest declaration
Tasting
young vintage Ports can be a challenge. They all tend to have a sense
of deliciousness to them, with abundant fruit, and this intensity of
up-front flavour can lead you astray in your assessments. Dirk
Niepoort recently hosted a tasting of young vintage Ports in which he
attempted to show this by offering tasters the same Ports after they
had just been opened, after they had been open for a while, and after
they had been decanted for two days. I didn’t attend, but he tells
me that what this showed is that the wines that were better after a
couple of days were generally the best wines, and that the wines which
initially flattered but didn’t have any substance were found out by
this process.
I
wouldn’t count myself as a seasoned expert in assessing young
Vintage Port, but I’ve been following Port for a few years now, and
I’d hope that I was beginning to get the hang of assessing these
wines early in their lives. But I wanted to add this caveat to my
assessments of the Ports from the 2007 vintage: it’s not an easy
call to make.
The
notes below come from a preview tasting of cask samples in May 2009
(as is usual for cask samples, I’ve given my score as a range, which
takes into account that these are not finished wines) and then a visit
to the Douro in September 2009 when I was able to taste finished
wines. I also tasted one of the wines (Niepoort) at home; this
wasn’t included in the preview tasting. For the sake of
completeness, all notes are included, even where they are duplicated.
My
views on 2007? It seems to be a pretty spectacular vintage, with very
fresh, pure fruit characteristics. Many of these Ports will be
approachable young, but the best ones also have the potential to age
for 50 years. I could buy a few cases of these wines and drink them
for the rest of my life. How cool is that?
The
2007 Port en primeur campaign
was launched earlier this year amid global financial crisis, yet from
speaking to producers who made an offer, it seems to have gone
brilliantly well with most of the top wines selling out quickly. It is
extremely unlikely that 2008 and 2009 will be declared by most houses,
even though the wines will be of very good quality in most cases.
Croft
2007
Lovely floral aromatics to the fruit. Vibrant, intense and quite
forward. The palate shows bright fruit with some earthy spicy
structure. Attractive rather than profound. 92/100 (09/09)
Croft
2007
Very attractive with a pure, open, sweetly fruited nose. The
palate is concentrated and dense with sweet fruit and a slightly
earthy undercurrent. 91–93/100 (05/09)
Fonseca
2007
Wonderful violetty floral aromatics together with a lovely complex
spicy dimension on the nose. The palate has beautifully expressive
fruit. Concentrated, vibrant and amazing fruity but with some earthy
complexity too. 97/100 (09/09)
Fonseca
2007
Concentrated and dense with lovely vivid, sweet, vibrant fruit.
Nicely structured, but a bit dumb on this showing. 92–95/100 (05/09)
Taylor
2007
Amazing aromatics: violets, pure black fruits, dark cherry. The
palate is pure, vibrant and fruity, yet nicely structured. Almost
perfect. Dense yet fresh and superbly fruity. 97/100 (09/09)
Taylor
2007
Sweet, pure and quite elegant with lovely purity of fruit. Perhaps
not as concentrated as some. 92–94/100 (05/09)
Dow
2007
Beautiful aromatics: sweet, pure, floral, violetty. Just
beautiful. Very sweet concentrated, dense palate with lovely purity.
Fantastic stuff. 93–96/100 (05/09)
Graham
2007
Vivid, intense and wonderfully fresh with amazing fruit purity and
substantial structure. Fantastic purity and intensity: this is
wonderful stuff. 93–96 (05/09)
Smith
Woodhouse 2007
Dense, generous, rich and quite pure with some spiciness. Quite
delicious and really vibrant. 91–93/100 (05/09)
Quinta
do Vesuvio 2007
Beautifully vibrant aromatics: sweet, pure and rich. Beautiful
fruit on the palate. Vibrant and expressive. 93–95/100 (05/09)
Warre
2007
Very dense, sweet and pure with lovely concentration of pure,
lively fruit. Really expressive and dense. A lovely wine. 92–95/100
(05/09)
Niepoort
2007
Tasted from half bottle. Deeply coloured. Warm nose is currently a
little muted, but the palate is explosive with beautifully expressive
violet, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit backed up by firm tannins
and vivid acidity. A concentrated wine with amazing structure and
acidity, and a potentially huge life ahead of it. A serious effort,
but don't think about drinking it young. My rating may be a bit
conservative because of this. 96/100 (08/09)
Quinta
do Noval 2007
Superconcentrated; an extremely deep colour. Complex, multilayered
nose of sweet pure dark fruits with spicy depth. The palate has
lushness and purity to the concentrated dark fruit. Vividly spicy and
tannic. An incredible young Vintage Port. 98/100 (09/09)
Quinta
do Noval 2007
Beautifully intense, firm dark fruits nose. The palate is
super-concentrated and dense with elegant structure. Just fantastic:
an amazing wine. 94–97/100 (05/09)
Slival
2007
Brooding, intense, focused dark fruits nose. Fresh, with lovely
fruit focus. The palate is concentrated and fresh with vivid dark
fruits and some spicy structure. A brilliant wine. 95/100 (09/09)
Silval
2007
Incredible aromatics. Super-sweet, pure and refined. The palate
shows fantastic fruit purity and density. Just lovely, and one of the
bargains of the vintage. 93–96/100 (05/09)
Quinta
de Romaneira 2007
Fantastically focused dark spicy nose with amazing floral
aromatics, and blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. The palate is dense
with focused dark fruits and notes of olive, spice, and complex herby
notes. Very pure fruit. Really vinous. 95/100
Quinta
de Romaneira 2007
Beautifully elegant with bright, fresh fruit. Pure with lovely
dark fruit. Fantastic fruit purity here. 93–96/100 (05/09)
see
also: my write up on the 2003
Vintage Ports
Wines tasted as indicated
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