QUINTA DA ROMANEIRA
2016 Vintage Port
A fresh nose, and a lightness and elegance, but then the intensity builds and it has a lovely, salivating richness and freshness, with quite a floral and expressive fruit. The longer it stays in the mouth the more exciting it gets, with the linear purity of the fruit giving a sense of ease and flow. Finishes pinging with fresh and salivating dark berries and spice. From beginning to end shows a svelte, elegant silhouette. Will make a suberbly drinkable Port in just a few years. As with the dry table wines from this property, and despite its position fronting the Douro, which is the hottest place to be, Romaneira seems to produce wines that are elegant above all. Drinking range: 2024 - Rating: 92-93 L&S (May 2018)
In Bond
75cl bottles (wood case of 6)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
This is ripe, in a sweet vein and slightly high-pitched, with a stream of raspberry, cherry and plum pâte de fruit notes gilded with floral and incense accents. A light warm cocoa hint through the finish adds a touch of bass. Drinking range: 2030 - 2045 Rating: 93 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Oct 2018)
The 2016 Vintage Port is mostly Touriga Nacional (70%), with the rest comprised of Touriga Franca and Tinto Cão, aged for 20 months in neutral tonels. It comes in with just 77 grams of residual sugar. This was in bottle for about seven weeks when seen. Aromatic and enticing from the first smell, laced with eucalyptus, herbs and dried blue fruits, it opens tight and then evolves beautifully, developing expressive fruit and flavor. This is elegant as well, with a fresh feel. It might be a touch on the leaner side, but not by much. I'm very impressed with this bottling, perhaps the best Romaneira VP I've seen. If it continues to evolve well, it should be a sleeper of the vintage. Drinking range: 2025 - 2070 Rating: 94 Mark Squires, robertparker.com (Jul 2018)
The 2016 Quinta da Romaneira has a broody, almost Médoc like bouquet at first, gradually almost reluctantly opening up with cigar humidor-tinged black fruit that are nicely defined. The palate is well balanced with black cherries, cassis and blueberry. There is good acidity here, but it is quite linear and just needs a little more substance to come through towards the finish. Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2018)
A sweeter style of port with blackberries, blueberries and light raspberry jam. Full and ripe, steadied by linear tannins and freshness that runs throughout. Juicy and rich wine. Better in 2023. Drinking range: 2023 - Rating: 93 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (May 2018)
Romaneira is a spicy and wild wine with some fruit compote notes and a dense core. What it lacks in complexity it makes up for in gusto and enthusiasm and I like the fact that it rushes onto the palate, endeavouring to make friends with each and every taste bud! Rating: 17.5+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2018)
Situated upstream from Pinhão, Romaneira is a huge, predominatly south facing estate with 3km of river frontage on the Douro. The 2016 is a blend of older parcels of Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca from the heart of the property: Open, beautifully fragrant and floral, mint, violets and a touch exotic; lovely purity of fruit backed by fine grained tannins, not especially big but well balanced with a firm, spicy finish. A lovely wine for mid-term drinking. Rating: 17+ Richard Mayson, www.richardmayson.com (May 2018)
Quinta da Romaneira
Whilst an old estate with a consequentially long history, Quinta da Romaneira only really becomes of note when, in 2004, new purchasers of the estate placed it under the management of Christian Seely and Antonio Agrellos who had worked such wonders at Quinta do Noval. Since then the vineyards have been overhauled, the best old vines have been retained in tandem with a replanting programme for the rest of the vineyard. A brand new winery has been constructed, two-thirds of it underground allowing Romaneira to have a proper cool wine cellar in the heart of the Douro valley.
85ha of vineyard, stretching some 3km along the River Douro are planted with both traditional Douro grapes and some plantings of international varieties.
Of course, this being the Douro valley, Quinta da Romaneira produce some very high quality Ports, but the forward focus of the estate is to realise the potential for table wine. In the words of Christian Seely, "our challenge has been, and remains, to find ways to vinify unfortified wines from the Douro that can take their rightful place among the great wines of the world, alongside the other great classic regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Rhone Valley."
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