Quinta do Noval : Vintage Port 2018

This has an attractive Nose with fresh dark berries, grilled herbs, chocolate and wet stones. Hints of kirsch, too. Full-bodied with moderate sweetness and an array of fine, marble-polished tannins. Lively, almost crunchy dark fruit character with so much finesse and delicacy. Long finish. It's attractive now, but better after 2026.

The 2018 Vintage Port from Noval, picked from 5 September, has a really lovely bouquet with black plum and cassis fruit, still with that faint tincture of fireside hearth, concentrated and supremely well focused. This is the most "vinous" recent vintage insofar that it veers away from a fortified wine, perhaps with less VA than the 2017. The palate has a satin-like texture on the entry, a little spicier than the 2019, hints of black pepper, graphite, clove and allspice, very harmonious and poised on the graphite-tinged finish. Excellent. Tasted at the Quinta do Noval tasting at Spring restaurant in London.

The 2018 Vintage Port is fabulous stuff and has a quintessential bouquet of spiced berries, cassis, fresh plum, Asian spices, and dried flowers. More about elegance, finesse, and complexity than sheer power (especially when compared to the 2020s), it's medium to full-bodied and nicely focused on the palate, with perfect balance between its fruit, sugar, and alcohol. Brought up in old wood tanks and bottled with 100 grams of residual sugar, it already offers pleasure, particularly with lots of air (I followed this bottle for three days), but I suspect it will have 40 years or more of overall longevity given its remarkable purity and balance.

Blueberry, chocolate, blackcurrant, tobacco. Fruit-dominated, fresh, complex nose. Prominent tannins, white pepper, red berry mix. Long, fruit-forward finish.

I had really enjoyed the Quinta da Romaneira 2018, but this one is several notches above. Black colour. Subtle at first, it takes 5 to 10 minutes in the glass for the nose to exhale deep notes of dark fruits and spices. Wow, the palate offers one of the most refined textures ever seen on this vineyard. It swoons on the palate, evolving velvety, meticulous and powerful, with this time hints of red fruits. Very full and yet delicate, the wine caresses before finishing with grace on a thousand sweetnesses. Very long finish. 30 minutes later, the nose is now dominated by floral aromas. It has become very pure. The palate reveals itself crystalline and irresistible. This wine seems to transcend categories. Indeed, it's only after 48 hours that I find in it the classic notes of great Vintage Port: cherry, fig, spices. 72 hours later, the very first impressions are confirmed. The nose is now frankly subtle and the palate dominated by a pulpy tactile grace. Magnificent!