2016 Symington's - Quinta do Vesuvio A Capela Vintage Port
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Tasting notes
With only 250 cases made this is exceptionally rare Port made only in the very best vintages . Incredibly focussed, powerful, dense palate, packed with black plum and blackberry of excellent delineation and ripeness, laced with liquorice and spice.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
2016 was their first declaration since 2011 and was a much wetter year with high disease pressure but the summer was long and hot. They picked later than some producers. A year like this, suggested Charles Symington, highlights the importance of owning your own vineyards. On 12/13 September rain was forecast so some picked before that. They decided to hold off and this was one of their latest vintages in recent years: they started picked Touriga Nacional 19/20 September. Foot-trodden in small lagares. Longer ferment and longer skin contact. Smells more voluptuous than the 2017. More red fruit. Ripe and rich but still has the Douro's rocky dark minerality on the palate. Dry – dark-chocolate dry. 'A bit quiet at this stage', suggests Symington. Yet generous and mouth-filling. (JH)
The 2016 Capela da Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage Port is principally a field blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Sousão and Alicante Bouschet, coming in with 109 grams of residual sugar. It shows even drier. If the regular Vesuvio was pretty terrific, this is even better. Not quite as lush and sexy, it is tighter, better textured and more intense. Bursting with flavor too, this has rich chocolate-cherry nuances and a long, long finish. This is pretty super, one of my favorite wines in this vintage. Yes, everyone talks about The Stone Terraces (including me; if this isn't my favorite of the vintage so far, The Stone Terraces is). Let's talk more about Vesuvio and Capela, though. The Symingtons struck gold with this Quinta and this bottling. This is unsettled, but it may yet merit an uptick in score. It seems like a superstar in the vintage. There were 3,000 bottles produced.
The 2016 Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port has been only released in exceptional years since 2007, this being the third release of the "tête de cuvée". It is more backward and broody than the regular Quinta do Vesuvio with blackberry, cassis and briary aromas, and a hint of clove. Yet there is a sense of holding something back on the nose, something that will only be revealed with bottle age. The palate is rounded and supple with good depth, far more open than the aromatics with lightly spiced black cherries, cassis and blueberry fruit. It feels silky smooth towards the finish with a long aftertaste that just needs to gain a little more complexity, as I am sure it will in bottle. This has huge potential.