2024 Maynard
Posted: 10:30 Tue 05 May 2026
I am beginning to understand the 2024 vintage brings an elegance and refinement to the wines. The fruit is ripe, floral and wonderfully expressive and this wine from the BarĂ£o de Vilar portfolio shows this to its full. The wine is a rich purple in colour with a narrow rim. The purity of the fruit shines on the nose with a lovely bramble and damp green nettle complexity. The palate holds the elegance of the vintage with the fruit very nicely balanced by the acidity. Generous fine-grained tannin support the fruit and give the wine good depth and enough power to promise a good future. Black plums on the late palate change to a menthol warmed dark chocolate and dried purple plum aftertaste with the dark chocolate leading the finish, letting the freshly crushed nettle leaves through at the end. This is a nice Port with an harmonious structure balancing the fruit. Medium bodied, this will drink very well for the next 4-5 years and then will reward a decade in the cellar. 88-90/100.