2007 Quinta do Vale Dona Maria Vintage Port

[Ray Barnes]

This wine was actually uncorked and tasted on the 12th and again the 14th, but I withheld comments until today as a precaution. I found this to be a lovely wine, but my bottle took a long time to open up and show what it really had. After being very impressed with the Taylor 2003 and stunned with the amazing Sandemans 2007, my initial reaction to this was of dissapointment. It is decidedly lighter in mouthfeel than the other VPs, and initially lacking in complexity - not even to my taste as nice as some LBVs tried in 2011. However, this afternoon the wine was showing lovely cherry and raspberry aromas and flavour (very much on the red rather than black fruit side), a bit of plum, with some vanilla and a touch of mahogany and spice on the nose too. Very good length and integration of fruit and alcohol (20%). Overall, an excellent effort. Maybe not a classic wine by comparison to the other offerings above, but still an excellent wine in its own right. Currently being offered for $50 a bottle in British Columbia, I think a very reasonable price for a vintage port of this quality.