2017 Fonseca Vintage Port, Portugal (750ml)

WINEMAKER'S NOTES:

Fonseca’s three vineyards—Quinta do Panascal, Quinta de Cruzeiro and Quinta de Santo António—all form the backbone of the famous Fonseca Vintage Portos, produced only in vintages that are “declared” as being of the highest quality. Fonseca is recognized across the Douro as a leader of viticultural practices for Porto and has spearheaded development of organic and sustainable programs across the region. The fruit for Fonseca’s Vintage Portos is trod by foot in granite lagares on the estate. The wine is aged for two years in oak before being bottled unfiltered.

A dense, opaque wine with classic Fonseca aromas and flavors: dense blackberry and blackcurrant, spice, coffee, cocoa, and prune. Thick, velvety tannins give the wine a voluptuous density on the palate. This wine will develop for decades in the bottle.

Pairs well with blue cheese and desserts made with dark chocolate or berries. It should be decanted before serving due to sediment in the bottle.

TASTING NOTES:

The wine’s fine perfumed black plum fruits give a wonderful jammy character while bringing out a fresh edge. These are balanced by the dry core of this beautiful wine with its rich, generous tannins. It will all come together from 2030 in a very fine, integrated wine. Kobrand.
- Wine Enthusiast, 98 pts


The 2017 Vintage Port, not quite bottled when originally seen, has now been in bottle for a couple of years. It is a field blend (with typical grapes like Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca) aged for approximately 20 months in used French oak. It comes in with 98 grams of residual sugar. This is a great Fonseca, distinctive, with a touch of eucalyptus and plums, but also loaded with delicious fruit. Like its Taylor's siblings, there is also a fine backbone. I'd say it is a step behind the Taylor's duo this year, but not by much. It will age well, to say the least. Beat after 2030.
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 98 pts


Dark and dense, with fig bread, baker’s chocolate and tar notes leading off before the core flavors of plum, black currant and blackberry paste finally start to emerge. The wild, spirited finish shows cast iron, licorice snap and roasted alder elements, delivering a decidedly chewy feel. A big, old-school, throwback Port that will age at a glacial pace. Best from 2035 through 2060
- Wine Spectator, 96 pts

Ripe and soft with loads of plummy, smoky and earthy character. Full body. Very sweet. Round and very soft textured. Flavorful finish. Drink in 2025 and onwards.
- James Suckling, 95 pts

Already beautifully integrated, this is showing great purity and poise. It's open and in its first bloom of youth, with lovely aromatic red berry fruit and floral aromas, plus a touch of leafiness. It's soft and fleshy initially, seemingly not as big as its stablemate Taylor's - and not quite so deep in color - though with dark chocolate concentration and mid-palate firmness. Lovely full, ripe tannins mass in the mouth, well defined, with fresh berry fruit remerging on the broad, expansive finish.
- Decanter, 95 pts

This wine contrasts sunny black-cherry lusciousness with sous bois shadows of schist, black mushroom and conifer. Then there’s the dark-chocolate freshness that pegs it as a Vale Mendiz classic, grown in the hills above Pinhão. The arid year lent tar-black earthiness, and the oak is a little prominent right now, but neither impinges on the wine’s clear identity. My last note after three days of blind tasting: “I’d like to own that.”
- Wine & Spirits, 94 pts