2003 is shaping up as a pretty good year for vintage port. Now what is a good year for a
vintage is not always reflected in the colheitas for the same year so we thought it would be interesting to see what this one was like. It had a typical deep amber colour combined with a sweet oaky nose. The scent was reminiscent of a rich nutty fruit cake. Tasting revealed a rich and full bodied experience of oak astringency balanced with sweet dried fruit flavours. I usually find that, compared with a port of deliminated age, colheitas lack complexity but make up for it in their finesse. This was born out in this wine where the harmony between bitter wood flavours was so well matched by the sweet dried, almost plummy, fruit elements. This was an excellent representative of this style of port at just 12 years of age.
