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
2000
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.
About the Wine
A wet 1999 vintage was followed by a cold and dry winter. April and May were very wet with half the annual rainfall falling in these two months. June and July were dry.
August continued dry, with the first half being extremely hot. The end of August and early September had perfect ripening conditions with long warm days. The resulting wines were big and full bodied with intense colour and very attractive aromas.
Less than four pipes were made of this vintage.
Tasting Notes
Deep purple black colour with a vivid magenta rim. Heady, potent nose of concentrated blackcurrant and plum, with notes of liquorice, coffee, spice and leather. A wine of massive scale, depth and background. Crammed with thick sinewy tannins, the palate has the dense, close-grained texture which is the hallmark of the Vinha Velha vintages. The wine abounds with rich juicy, grapey flavour that fills the mouth and lingers on the incredibly long succulent finish. A muscular titan of a wine which overshadows most other vintage ports of the harvest.
Mark Squires, Wine Advocate