Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 88

Wine&Spirits

fruit even as its sweetness heads in the direction of apricot marmalade. There's some
woody maturity, a balancing note of bitter
orange and mature oak spice. Pour it with
wine-poached pears. § Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
273988

Our Score
Definitions
W&S scores are based on
quality and distinctive regional
character, to help you find
delicious wines grown and
made with integrity.

100
Transcendent
A wine that speaks directly from
the earth, communicating the
flavors of its place with unequaled
complexity and intensity; it will
offer pleasure for decades.

96 to 99
Astonishing, Rare

91 | Quevedo

272181

93 | W.& J. Graham's

$500

1963 Porto Single Harvest Tawny ^ From a
year made famous by the Vintage wines, this
Tawny is markedly fresh and lively, delivering a generous creamy richness that melds
textures and flavors into luxurious density.
Notes of ripe apricot and fresh herbs last in a
brisk, peppery finish. A wine to contemplate
on its own, long into the night. (W&S 8/19) §
Premium Port Wines, San Francisco, CA

272182

A wine that saturates the senses
with flavors that feel unique
and thrilling; a rare
landmark for its region.

90 | W.& J. Graham's

93 to 95
Exciting, Distinctive
A wine that transcends simple
typicity to its region or variety-a
vivid, singular expression of place.

90 to 92
Delicious, Compelling
A compelling wine of its region;
a delicious, finessed
expression of a place.

88 to 89
Delicious, Representative
Well-made, pleasurable and
true to its region or variety.

85 to 87
Balanced, Crowd Pleasing
Identifiable in style and regional
character, and qualitatively solid.

80 to 84
Useful
Simple wine that will either
quench thirst or play a
useful role at the table.

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

$58

1996 Porto Colheita ^ Layered with flavors of
dried apricot, nectarine, pale strawberry and
bitter orange, this wine may be warm, but it
delivers a distinctive scent without excessive
heat. A fragrant and complex Port for afterdinner contemplation. § P.R. Grisley, Salt Lake
City, UT

274392

92 | Kopke

$38

2002 Porto Colheita (Best Buy) ^ Broad and
heady, this offers a gentle rain of fruit that's
rich and lightly spiced. Everything about it
is light, with orange notes and darker root
scents, like the sweetness of roasted parsnips. It will complement a range of foods,
from chicken liver mousse to roast squash,
or savory desserts, like pumpkin pie. (Bottled
2019) § Wine In-Motion, Newark, NJ
274390

$145

1994 Porto Single Harvest Tawny ^ Richly
textured in a lovely contrast between supple and frisky, this wine focuses on generous
almond flavors over a light touch of strawberries and cream. Its notes of caramel and
toffee clean up in the end, offering a bold
Tawny to serve with an almond tart. (W&S
8/19) § Premium Port Wines, San Francisco, CA
274391

90 | Kopke

$36

90 | Krohn

$28

90 | Quinta do Portal

$75

1999 Porto Colheita (Best Buy) ^ Spicy
and broad, this wine leans in an autumnfruit direction, presenting its flavors with
the briskness and coolness of a crunchy red
apple. There's some heat in the end, boosting the wine's power. (Bottled 2019) § Wine InMotion, Newark, NJ
273483

92 | Kopke

$98

1979 Porto Colheita ^ Dark notes of roasted
fruit are brightened by the spice of oak age,
reading as toasty, with a fennel-like edge. The
texture is generous and juicy, enlisting all the
mature tones of the fruit and wood in a lasting elegance. Forty years old and still going
strong. (Bottled 2019) § Wine In-Motion, Newark, NJ
272429

2002 Porto Colheita (Best Buy) ^ Schisty and
warm, this wine has held onto its dark berry
fruit and stony tannins, even as it feels relatively light in weight. It's a heady Iberian
pleasure, a wine to serve lightly chilled with
olives and almonds. (Bottled 2017) § Kobrand,
Purchase, NY
274400

91 | Quinta do Noval

$60

2004 Porto Colheita ^ Fresh scents of plums
and darker tones of smoked peppers fill this
sweet, youthful Tawny. The texture is syrupy,
but the wine has enough structural tension
to keep it clean, the flavors lasting long on
notes of cherries and smoke. § M Imports, Fairfield, CT n

2005 Porto Colheita Tawny ^ Noval ages its
Tawny Ports in Vale Mendiz, unlike shippers,
which have historically aged their Tawnies in
Vila Nova de Gaia, where the conditions are
naturally somewhat cooler and more humid.
This wine sustains its energy and generous

https://www.grahams-port.com https://www.grahams-port.com https://www.kopke1638.com/store/

Wine & Spirits - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2019