Vintage 2020
The 2020 Vintage Port is a blend of 45% Touriga Franca, 28% Touriga Nacional, 20% Tinta Roriz and dollops of others, unoaked and coming in with just 81 grams of residual sugar. This was bottled in June 2022. I saw this about a year ago, and the time in the bottle has helped. That’s not to say this is in a perfect place (although it has become approachable), but the parts seem better integrated now. With aeration, the tannins do become a bit harder, but they are not astringent, generally speaking. The fruit is restrained in flavor but persistent. The next day, this drank extremely well. It makes me think it will be approachable on the earlier side. It has a very graceful feel to it overall, in keeping with the winery’s elegant style on display with the table wines in this report. Overall, this is very pretty, a wine with some distinction and some chance of improvement but one that is probably a step or two short of superstar status. It certainly adds some power and depth to the LBV in this report. Of course, that is to be expected. We’ll see what it looks like around 2030 when it should be making clear declarations on where its ceiling is.
