SMITH WOODHOUSE

A serious Port in the making, loaded for bear with dark currant paste, warmed fig sauce and blackberry reduction flavors pouring through. The brambly grip is deeply embedded and there are gorgeous ganache and licorice snap notes hanging on the finish. Drinking range: 2035 - 2055 Rating: 97 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Oct 2018)

The 2016 Vintage Port is an equal blend of old vines and Touriga Franca, coming in with 113 grams per liter of residual sugar. Fresher, livelier and lusher than the Warre's this issue—which is the most accessible of the Symington declarations—it is also going to be approachable relatively young. This is a fine Port, but it's not truly made for greatness. If it is not quite as rich and decadent as Warre's, it is more lifted on the finish, with a sunny feel and a more aromatic beginning. I liked them about equally well, but the styles are certainly different. Neither may be the best agers. Drinking range: 2020 - 2056 Rating: 91 Mark Squires, robertparker.com (Jul 2018)

The 2016 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port represents the best production from the Quinta da Madalena vineyard, where picking did not begin until 28 September. It perhaps just lacks the same intensity and complexity of its peers with black truffle and smoke aromas infusing the black fruit. The palate is well balanced with a spicy, stem ginger tinged opening that shows much more promise than the nose. I admire the tension here, a nimble and agile Vintage Port that gathers weight towards the finish. Fine, but perhaps a more short-term proposition than its peers. Drinking range: 2021 - 2035 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2018)