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The 2017s were tasted on Tuesday 25th June 2019, at The Boot & Flogger.

Many thanks to the many shippers who sent bottles, and to Alex for organising.

Links:

• Review of the event as a whole;
• The 2017s:
  • Bulas 2017;
  • Burmester 2017;
  • Churchill 2017;
  • Churchill Quinta da Gricha 2017;
  • Cockburn 2017;
  • Quinta do Crasto 2017;
  • Croft 2017;
  • Croft Quinta da Roêda Sērikos 2017;
  • Dalva 2017;
  • Dow 2017;
  • Fonseca 2017;
  • Graham 2017;
  • Graham The Stone Terraces 2017;
  • Quinta do Javali 2017;
  • Kopke 2017;
  • Quinta das Lamelas 2017;
  • Martha 2017;
  • Maynard 2017;
  • Maynard Organic 2017;
  • Niepoort 2017;
  • Quinta do Noval 2017;
  • Quinta do Noval Nacional 2017;
  • Pintas 2017;
  • Poças 2017;
  • Portal 2017;
  • Portal Muros 2017;
  • Quevedo 2017;
  • Ramos Pinto 2017;
  • Ramos Pinto Quinta de Ervamoira 2017;
  • Quinta da Romaneira 2017;
  • La Rosa 2017;
  • Quinta da Sequeira 2017;
  • Skeffington 2017;
  • Taylor 2017;
  • Taylor Vargellas Vinha Velha 2017;
  • Quinta do Vale Meão 2017;
  • Quinta do Vallado 2017;
  • Quinta do Vallado Adelaide 2017;
  • Quinta do Vesuvio 2017;
  • Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio 2017;
  • Vieira de Sousa 2017;
  • Warre 2017;
• Sticky labels and TN pages (which caused some additions to the list of Port House abbreviations).
• Planing and arrangements.

Deep red, limited nose of red liquorice. Concentrated fruit on the palate, with ripe black cherries and tannins which grip firmly. The tannins are huge on the mid-palate. Air works a wonderful fragrance out of the fruit but highlights the massive grip in this wine. The acidity shows up on the aftertaste, but then the tannins settle in once again to support the long aniseed finish which ends with a fabulous green bell pepper twist. Very fine Port. 92-94/100.

Qv17: Tank still hiding some of the fruit. Needs to settle in bottle.

C7: Another lovely fruit driven nose. Perfumed and delicious fruit driven palate. Sweet and balanced. Hardly any grip or tannic structure in evidence and delicious already. What for the future?

This was the other bottle I took home after the tasting. Drunk chilled from the fridge on a day when the air temperature has dropped to about 27C, this is showing remarkably well (4 days after the tasting at the Boot & Flogger). The chill has dampened the nose, but has not eliminated the grape and bay-leaf nose. The fruit wraps around the mouth, sweet and refined, and simply serves to highlight just how ripe and elegant the firm tannins are. Great tannic grip and a lovely acidity give the wine the ability to sing nicely on the palate. The fruit and tannins give a really nice grip on the aftertaste, before grudgingly giving way to a very, very long black cherry finish. Terrific Port. 92-94/100.