Smith Woodhouse - Quinta da Madalena

[Mahmoud Ali]

I knew that Smith Woodhouse generally flies under the radar considering how good it's VP and unfiltered LBV ports are but I was unprepared for how low key it is even in the Symington scheme of things. The Symington website has a banner along the top with links to the websites of Graham's, Cockburn's, Warre's, Dow's, and Quinta do Vesuvio, but not Smith Woodhouse. Only under "Our Wines" does it shows the name Smith Woodhouse appear along with their other ports but even then it doesn't go past a solitary photo of the 2011 vintage port. There literally was no other information about Smith Woodhouse products, not even their LBV port. So really, there was no way to find out anything about their Quinta da Madalena.

I've seen some '96 Madalena and since I have no experience with it whatsoever, I was wondering what forum members think of the quinta and/or the vintage?

Cheers...................Mahmoud.

[Paul C. Metman]

Hello Mahmoud, you'll find some information on http://www.thevintageportsite.com under the tab "Port Basics", "Brand information" and "Quinta information", but only about their VP's, not the LBV's!

[Andy Velebil]

SW makes some very nice VP's and LBV's as well. I own a bunch from a variety of vintages.

[Eric Menchen]

Ah yes, I recall the dreaded loop of links that say http://www.smithwoodhouse.com which then just redirects back to http://www.symington.com/
Paul has provided the source for the best links I could find:
Brand: http://www.thevintageportsite.com/view.php?id=14445
Quinta: http://www.thevintageportsite.com/view.php?id=14460
1996: http://www.thevintageportsite.com/speci ... e+Madalena

[Mahmoud Ali]

Thanks Paul and Eric, much appreciated. Looks like it was in '95 that Smith Woodhouse started to release the Madalena on a regular basis. That particular vintage seems to have impressed people. Of course the one I'm looking at is the '96 but I like Smith Woodhouse's ports so I think their Single Quinta, especially one that ought to be ready to drink, is worth a punt at US$30 - C$35 here as the dollar is dropping along with the price of oil.

Cheers..................Mahmoud.

[Glenn E.]

Smith Woodhouse's 1995 LBV was pretty amazing, too. Definitely an underrated house, so yeah a '96 Madalena at $30 is definitely worth a try!

[Mahmoud Ali]

I opened a bottle of the '96 Madelena on new years day and it was very nice. It had been standing upright for 24 hours and was on hand in case we needed a second port. In the end it was served pretty much on a pop and pour basis - just a quick decant. We all thought it was a very nice port, drinking beautifully at 18 years of age. It was not at all spirity and the tannins were only lightly grippy - plenty of time left for this bottle. It was a well structured port, dry, with focused fruit and firm yet ripe tannins, the finish was long and refined.

Overall an excellent port and another reason for me to resist buying younger vintage ports.

[Andy Velebil]

I opened a bottle of the '96 Madelena on new years day and it was very nice. It had been standing upright for 24 hours and was on hand in case we needed a second port. In the end it was served pretty much on a pop and pour basis - just a quick decant. We all thought it was a very nice port, drinking beautifully at 18 years of age. It was not at all spirity and the tannins were only lightly grippy - plenty of time left for this bottle. It was a well structured port, dry, with focused fruit and firm yet ripe tannins, the finish was long and refined.

Overall an excellent port and another reason for me to resist buying younger vintage ports.

Thanks for letting us know how it was. I've split this brief TN off into it's own TN in the Tasting Note Database for easier future searching.

[Al B.]

I first came across Smith Woodhouse Madalena port with the 1988 vintage when Derek unearthed a small parcel priced at under GBP 17 per bottle including taxes and duty. We were really impressed by the quality and bought a few cases.

From what I have learned, Smith Woodhouse is made more or less exclusively from grapes grown at Madalena. Because of this the production numbers tend to be very small - I think 1,000 cases for the 2011 vintage, for example - and the style is very much terroir and weather driven.

It is interesting as all I hear makes me believe that this is a single quinta wine produced very much in the same spirit as Vesuvio but with a much lower profile.