Agri-Roncão, DR Vintage Port 2017 (20%)

agri-roncao.pt POA $

Worldwide Cellars

Historically, the Port laureates in our Best in Show selection have tended to be fine old tawnies. This year it’s different – not least because this awarded vintage Port comes from the magnificent 2017 vintage, unquestionably one of the greatest of the past four or five decades. It’s a dense black-purple in colour, with a powerful mill of aromas that evoke not just black fruits like sloe, damson and mulberry, but vegetal and spice notes too – even a little fragrant pine. On the palate, it is rich, dense, powerful and close-textured as vintage Port must be in youth, luscious with those same black fruits, fragrant with tea leaf and petitgrain, and supported by extravagant but toothsome, chewy tannins. Of course this needs cellaring – but it is also exciting to try now in its first, thrilling flush of youth.

With A-grade vineyards (the Douro Valley’s highest classification) planted at 500m-600m in the most respected sub-region of Cima Corgo, Agri-Roncão’s property, Quinta da Levandeira do Roncão, certainly holds flawless credentials.

Grapes were grown here as far back as the 19th century and were sold to the most famous Port shippers of the time. A subsequent malaise took root, however, and as production ceased the quinta slid into near-total abandonment before being picked up by Domingos Ribeiro in 2001.

For Ribeiro, who had carved out a successful career both in Portugal and Angola, this acquisition (along with a property in Vinho Verde) represented the culmination of a dream, as he had, as a child, delivered crates of Port to the city of Porto’s elite.

Quinta da Levandeira do Roncão is home to 45ha of vineyards planted on south-facing slopes whose gradients range from 5%-45% and feature parcels that are more than 60 years old. Although it is planted to six different varieties, its winner blends Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz with Sousão.