Graham’S Porto Quinta Dos Malvedos Vintage The Stone Terraces 2015 750 ML

This is a single vintage, single “Quinta” Port. Quintas operate rather like “Crus” in the Cognac world, as a means of assessing the quality of a growing area and the wines produced there. Quinta dos Malvedos is one of the finest of the Douro Valley’s historic Quintas and has long been associated with Graham’s Port (the company first acquired the land in 1890). Malvedos was the name of the rapids that flowed in front of the estate prior to the Douro’s damming in the 1960s.

2015 is an interesting vintage year (as declared by the Noval Port shippers), as it was followed immediately by another, 2016. It is unusual for two vintages to be “declared” one after another, as tradition states that there can only be three declared vintage years in a decade. 2015 was rather superseded by 2016, as the latter year’s harvest returned much larger yields, so there was more to sell. Nevertheless, 2015 offers superb vintage quality, particularly with single Quinta offerings such as this.

This bottling is a powerful, tannic Port with notes of bright red fruits, dry spices, blackberries, red grapes, toffee, dark oak and some slightly acid blackcurrants. Drinkable now, but will keep well for ten years.