2017 Quinta do Vesuvio
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Tasting notes
The 2017 Vintage Port is a blend of 33% Touriga Nacional, 35% Touriga Franca, 15% Sousão and 12% Alicante Bouschet, plus miscellaneous others filling out the blend. This was bottled about a month before tasting after 18 months in seasoned vats, but the just-bottled sample was not really ready. This was instead a pre-bottling sample. It comes in with 115 grams of residual sugar. Very fresh, it also has luscious fruit, vivid fruit flavor and big power underneath. It coats the palate and is one of the fleshiest of the wines in the Symington stable this issue, but its best feature is the delightfully juicy finish. It's delicious, long and kind of spectacular. Tight, it also demonstrated the ability to expand in the glass. Then, it showed off the pure power. The combination of lots of fruit, lots of power and endless flavor to go with the endless finish mean that this is a rather stunning follow-up to recent vintages. It is going to need some time. I did (again) like the Capela, its sibling this issue, better—I tend to lean toward structure more than fruitiness—but at half the price, I and other bargain hunters might be content here. Stylistically, this certainly has plenty of virtues of its own, and it will likely be accessible a bit earlier. It will be released in the USA in the third quarter of the year. There were 1,200 cases produced, which makes it easily available too—a nice combination of price, availability and quality as top wines go.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port was picked from August 28, the earliest on record and the Symingtons single out the Touriga Franca as the foundation of its quality for imparting all-important freshness. It has a fragrant and more floral bouquet compared to its peers, not as intense as either Warre’s and Cockburn’s with scents of blackcurrant, Medjool dates, raspberry preserve and raisin, well defined, although you are convinced that this Vesuvio is holding something back. The palate is smooth with lace-like tannin, very well judged acidity, quite powerful and dense with a voluminous black plum and blackcurrant finish with hints of espresso and mint. This is a fine Vesuvio although, it lacks the profundity of its peers in this vintage. Total production 1,200 cases.
1,200 cases, just 3% of the vineyard production. 30th anniversary of the Symington acquisition of this property. Foot trodden in lagares. Earliest ever harvest at Vesuvio, starting on 28 August. Yields 15% below the Quinta’s 10-year average. Fruit from mature plantings of Touriga Franca from the Vale da Teja sections of Vesuvio (35%), the Touriga Nacional from the high-lying Vinha das Minas and Raposa parcels (33%), the Sousão from the Minas and Quinta Nova vineyards (15%) and the Alicante Bouschet from Castelos (12%), plus 5% Tinta Amarela. The Sousão component was larger because of its important contribution to acidity. Baumé 3.9, TA 4.37 g/l. Dark purple with purple rim. The fruit character is less wild here than in the Graham’s and Stone Terraces, more domesticated black fruit and yet just as pure and still with fine bergamot from the Touriga. Sweet baking spice on the palate leading in to highly textured tannins, as if the texture itself was spicy, but fine like layers of paper. Dense, packed with potential and less approachable than the Dow’s and Warre’s, less obviously sweet on the mid palate. But the long finish is sweet and utterly pure fruit. Wonderful persistence. (JH)
Finished aromas of crushed berry, graphite and stone. Full body, very sweet with a tangy almost sweet and sour character. Distinct flavors of dried oranges and dark berries. Medium tannin structure. Very ripe yet fresh. Try in 2025.