2022 Calem

[Alex Bridgeman]

Wonderful perfumed fruit on the nose, sweet without being jammy with a deep tone of tobacco leaf. Balanced entry, rich and ripe blackcurrant with just the right amount of acidity to compliment the fruit; a little sprinkle of peppercorn adds a frisson of heat to the fruit and the tannins are so fine-grained that they just seem to be the texture of the fruit. The fruit on the palate is superb, just picked at that perfect point of ripeness with enough acidity for freshness. Bramble rather than blackcurrant settles onto the palate (I picked a lot of wild blackberries this year!) as the delicious aftertaste, bramble with texture from the tannins. This is impressive; young Port which is delicious to drink now as a baby fruit bomb but which has the structure to mature for several decades. I think I've found my Christmas Port for this year. Day 2. 92-94/100. Tasted 23-Aug-2022.

[Mike J. W.]

Alex, I'm enjoying your write-up on the 2022's. I'm surprised the Calem scored so well as they're normally not a VP that lead the way. I have a question for you though. You said you think this might be your Christmas Port for this year. Do you usually go for a young VP for after Christmas dinner or is this a one-off for you?

[Alex Bridgeman]

Ever since my wife gave me a(n opened) bottle of Vesuvio 1989 for Christmas 1992 we’ve had a tradition of having a very recent VP as the red wine to go with our Christmas lunch.

Most years this is Vesuvio, but this year it’s going to be Cálem. I’ve said elsewhere that I think Carlos Alves and his winemaking team are on a real roll; their Ports over the last decade or so have been fantastic.

Barros was one of the few Ports I bought from the 2018 vintage, as an example.

[MigSU]

I bought 6 of that Barros 2018 as well, I tasted it (in cask sample form) and it was delicious.