Portugal

Beautiful light brick red colour and a pleasingly delicate shape. Lovely spicy, intense character, cherry and warm strawberries mingle with herbs and dark cherry notes. Light on its feet, but not shy in any way – lovely, long and beautifully poised.

Quinta da Romaneira continues to go from strength to strength under the stewardship of Christian Seely and the 2017 Touriga Nacional is another cracker. Fragrant cherry, violets and dark chocolate on the nose, in the mouth it is rich and concentrated with silky black fruits, that floral ba...(read more)

The fresh, intoxicating blackberry fruit aromas are enhanced by a wonderfully aromatic, scented quality. A huge amount of depth and backbone to this finely tuned Port. Everything is in harmony and perfect balance. The dark berry fruit flavours marry exquisitely with the tannins, leaving th...(read more)

Lovely concentration, quite tightly wound, dark fruit core, bramble, dark cherry, then floral notes too of roses, violets with good freshness. The palate is beautifully delivered, concentrated black fruit, meaty and neatly spiced. It has the feel of a sleek Left Bank Claret and the hold to...(read more)

Under the heading ' A new dawn for Douro reds- Many Douro red wines seem to lack polish and sophistication. Not this one', Matthew Jukes writes: 'It has been a long wait for the guardians of the Douro Valley to make truly awesome red wines. While Port is, rightly, the focu...(read more)

Very pale rose red. Slightly burnt edge. This reminds me a little of the Soviet wine museum, as though the sweetness had been rather cooked in some way. Round and sweet but not very subtle. Spirit on the finish.

Together with Graham, this is one of the great 1970's and now achieving full maturity. Still vibrant, with notes of figs, prines and bittersweet chocolate.

(This was UK bottled by Lupton’s of Bradford and probably never had labels and has unmarked wax capsules, but the ‘Taylor 1963’ is on the corks. The bottles are scruffy but the levels are good for age.)

Lovely rich, unctuous olive oil from the Douro valley.