American magazine Wine Spectator organised a special tasting of Port wines to include in its February edition, and the scores the varieties received are off-the-chart.
Although none of the 125 wines tasted received 100 points, they all received above-par reviews, with the 39 Vintage 2011 doing the best. The lowest score of these wines was an enviable 92.
The star of the show was Dow’s, produced by the Symington Family – with an overall score of 99. And there were still another four that received 98 points.
Official wine connoisseur Kim Marcus explained why the 2011 Vintage wines did so well.
“Mother Nature looked glowingly on Port vintners in 2011, providing almost ideal growing conditions that have delivered stunning quality in the bottle. Fresh, powerful and explosively fruity, the 2011 Vintage Ports are likely to stand as a benchmark of quality in the decades ahead.”
Portuguese wine magazine Revista de Vinhos proudly reported on the accolade and said: “Truthfully, we cannot remember a tasting of one single harvest with such high scores.”
Here is the list of the highest ranking wines:
99: Dow’s.
98: Fonseca; Quinta do Noval Nacional; Quinta do Vale Meão; Quinta do Vesúvio.
97: Churchill’s; Cockburn’s; Croft; Graham The Stone Terraces; Quinta do Noval; Sandeman; Taylor Fladgate.
96: Graham’s; Quinta Vale D. Maria; Quinta do Vallado Adelaide; Ramos-Pinto; Smith Woodhouse; Taylor Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha; Vinhos Óscar Quevedo; Warre’s
