Vintage 2017

The 2017 Vintage Port is a field blend, which is mostly represented as Touriga Franca (30%), Touriga Nacional (20%) and Tinta Roriz (15%), with dollops of others for the rest. This was the final blend, but it was about two weeks from bottling when seen. Another of those unoaked Ports cropping up, it comes in rather dry at 80 grams per liter of residual sugar. Enticingly aromatic, this has good concentration and a long finish, with fairly significant tannins up front. With aeration, this became even more aromatic. It thinned a bit, but the flavors became far more vivid, and the wine seemed far fresher at that point. The lifted fruit was simply delicious. The tannins moderated a bit, but it was still very vigorous. Overall, this is lovely, elegant, balanced and very tasty. You can approach it somewhat young, but it has the structure to age reasonably well. July 2019.