2005 Warre's Quinta da Cavadinha
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Tasting notes
20% Touriga Nacional, 20% Touriga Franca, 20% Tinta Barroca, 20% Tinta Roriz and 20% Tinto Cão sourced from Quinta da Cavadinha. The grapes are hand-harvested, cleaned and destemmed before being transferred to the lagares for pressing. At Cavadinha, there are six modern stainless-steel lagares, complemented by three plunger tanks. All grapes are first trodden in the lagares, in which most of the fermentation takes place with ambient yeasts, before the must is transferred to the plungers. Large rotating paddles force the immersion of the grape skins into the juice. During fermentation, the sugar levels are carefully monitored and, once the desired level is reached, fermentation is halted by fortification with a neutral grape brandy (77% abv). Once vinified, the wine is transported to the lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia for maturation in large, old oak barrels for a period of 18 months. Winemakers Peter and Charles Symington. TA 4.4 g/l, pH 3.68, RS 100 g/l. Bottle weight 760 g. Great value for a 17-year-old wine! Still deep garnet with a little evolution at the rim. Strong liquorice notes on the nose. Very firm and upright. The tannin is hanging on by its fingernails! Transparent and fresh. Lots of pleasure here in a wine you could serve over several days. Long and haunting. Really rather beautiful. GV (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2005 Quinta da Cavadinha is a field blend from old vines, plus Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Touriga Franca, bottled in June 2007 after about 18 months in old vats. It comes in at 98 grams per liter of residual sugar. This is a graceful single quinta that still shows off some stuffing and power, even nearly 20 years later. It adds nuance and complexity. No, this isn't the greatest Port ever, but it gives you a chance to get something classy with some maturity at a very low price point. That makes it a great deal. It has plenty of life left, but don't expect this to age for another 50 years, like a new Vintage Port. This is a 2022 release of 4,500 cases.
Full bottle 1,400 g. Driven cork was easy to extract in this case. Shaded paleish garnet with a ruby rim shading to water white. Fully evolved nose that's a bit more diffuse than either Dow's 2010 or Graham's 2010 single-quinta ports that are offered concurrently. Dry finish with grainy texture after a rich palate. Some heat on the end and less fruity core on the mid palate than the other two single-quinta ports from the Symington Family Estates. Just a little sludgy somehow. A bit simpler than the other two. (JR)