Quinta Do Vesuvio Port Vintage 2018 750ml

Expressive, with a wave of pure creamed plum, blackberry and blueberry fruit gliding through atop enticing anise and milk chocolate notes. Velvety, caressing finish makes it hard to see the graphite structure here, but it's there. Suave finish too. Will be hard to lay off this one in its youth, but it's destined for terrific development. Best from 2032 through 2055. 965 cases made, 100 cases imported.

This is a big, ripe young vintage Port with dried fruit, such as figs and prunes, treacle tart and chocolate. Full-bodied and very sweet with lots of round tannins and a long, flavorful finish. This needs five or six years to soften. Just 3% of the Vesuvio production. Try after 2025 and onwards.

A blend of 54% Touriga Nacional, 40% Touriga Franca and Alicante Bouschet (co-fermented) and 6% Sousão (for freshness), predominantly from cooler north or northwest facing vineyards: beautifully lifted, scented floral aromas (rose petals), vinous and overt; sweet and suave initially, ripe but gentle blackberry fruit backed by velvety tannins leading to a finish that is both powerful and elegant at the same time. Wonderful freshness and vitality. A magnificent wine for drinking over the medium to long term. Just 965 cases produced, representing 3% of the quinta’s total production.

The 2018 Vintage Port is a blend of 54% Touriga Nacional and 40% Touriga Franca and Alicante Bouschet combined, with miscellaneous others filling out the blend. It comes in with 112 grams of residual sugar. This is one of the two Ports being released en primeur now by the Symingtons in this issue. If you are judging the group on concentration and power, this is easily the winner, the one with the biggest upside. There are some other points to make, though. You may like the style of some others more. Inky black, it is also probably the most concentrated Port in the group, although it doesn't seem to quite scale the heights of, say, the 2017. The signature features here will be the pungent aromatics and the big, ripe fruit. Actually, it is not only big in flavor, it's a little flamboyant. There is a nuance on the finish that makes it seem especially ripe; it will be interesting to see if that folds into the whole in time. The baked plums up front suggest very ripe Touriga Nacional, in particular. Then, the hammer falls, and this shows off a fair bit of power too, especially the next day. It was by far, also, the 2018 in this article that was most on top of its game when tasted a couple of days later. It will be interesting to see where this goes. It certainly has potential. There were 965 cases produced.

The magnificent Vesuvio estate has produced a densely rich Port. Its tannins and big black fruit are just the starting point for a long journey. It is sumptuous and structured at the same time. Drink this wine from 2027.

The 2018 Quinta do Vesuvio has a plush bouquet of black fruit laced with clove, nougat, boysenberry jam and white pepper. I would have liked a little more precision here. The palate is medium-bodied with impressive spicy attack on the entry - cracked black pepper and bitter orange, touches of liquorice and mint towards the well structured finish. Moderate length. A quality Vesuvio that deserves several years in bottle.