2011 Vintage Port Tasting
A tasting of 2011 Vintage Port barrel samples at Fareham Wine Cellar on Thursday 6th June 2013 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. Ports on show were,
1. Smith Woodhouse 2011
2. Quinta do Roriz 2011
3. Cockburns 2011
4. Offley 2011
5. Ferreira 2011
6. Sandeman 2011
7. Churchill 2011
8. Quinta do Vesuvio 2011
9. Niepoort 2011
10. Niepoort Bioma 2011
11. Warre 2011
12. Dow 2011
13. Graham 2011
Some photos of before and after the tasting
There was no scientific poll done on the evening, but the most popular Ports at the tasting were, at the top end, Graham, Niepoort, Niepoort Bioma and Quinta do Vesuvio. At the slightly cheaper price point Quinta de Roriz seemed to be the most popular choice. However, to be honest, it was pretty difficult to find a bad Port amongst the 2011s. Obviously each Port House has its individual characteristics, Niepoort was the most pure, mineral and elegant style, Ferreira was the biggest and most extracted for example. It is so difficult to try and predict how Ports are going to develop over the next 20 to 30 years (what happened to the all singing and dancing 1985 vintage) and a young Vintage Port tasting has got to be one of the most difficult tastings to do.
[…] No surprise that the Quinta do Vale Meao 2011 was one of my favourite red wines of the wine tasting – it is always superb and 2011 seems to have been a very good vintage for them – it was packed with black fruit, milk chocolate, vanilla, dried fruit – with power and finesse at the same time. I had not tried the Quinta do Vale Meao Vintage Port before, needless to say the 2011 Port was excellent too – dark black / purple with hints of clove, prune, black fruit and a hint of smokiness on the nose. The palate it broad, plump and very well-balanced with hints of spicy liquorice. It would have been good to try this up against the other 2011 Vintage Ports. […]