Decanting
Vintage Port forms a natural deposit in the bottle and should be decanted. Stand the bottle upright a few hours before decanting to allow the sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle.
Select Year
2009
Storage
Continues to improve for decades after bottling. The bottle should be kept lain down in a cool place, ideally at a temperature below 16ºC.
Serving temperature
Serve at 16ºC to 18ºC. Vintage Port is best drunk one to two days after opening.
Pairing suggestions
Walnuts, blue veined and other richly flavoured cheeses are excellent accompaniments to Vintage Port; so too are dried fruits such as apricots or figs.
Select Year
About the Wine
A vintage Port wine which manages to combine the massive structure and powerful fruitiness of the 2009 harvest with elegance, poise and finesse.
2009 will be remembered as a year of very low yields. This was partly due to the small amount of fruit and also to the effect of the very dry ripening season. Bud burst started in the first week of March. All vine varieties showed low fertility although the vegetation was healthy and vigorous. Vérasion (colouring of the grapes) also occurred earlier than usual.
The ripening season started with relatively cool weather which continued throughout July but in August this turned to intense heat. From July right through to the harvest in September, there was almost no rain. These hot, arid conditions produced concentrated musts, rich in colour, tannins and sugar.
The year produced Vintage Ports of massive scale, not unlike the iconic vintage ports of the twentieth century. They are port wines built to last.
Tasting Notes
Inky black with purple rim. A nose of great purity opening on a vigorous note of concentrated black woodland fruit laced with raspberry and plum. Around this dense fruity core, with its attractive vibrancy and minerality, is a fragrant and complex aura of citrus fruit blossom and wild herbal scents of mint and lavender. Supported by a tight warp of thick sinewy tannins, the palate explodes with concentrated ripe black fruit flavour which surges into the long finish before being gripped in a tight tannic embrace.
Jancis Robinson, Purple Pages