2001 Quinta do vale meao vintage port 19.5%
Portugal

The cork crumbled away, and my records didn’t tell me where or how much I paid (long ago, and probably not much) for this lone bottle. But it’s impressive. Very dense red/black colour; there’s a wonderful mix of violets, blueberries, red cherry, and some darker fruit notes. The palate has intensity, persistence and complexity. Red liquorice, cherry, blueberry, very fine chalky tannins – stylish and authentic. A producer to watch for the more widely declared years, as this one was a ripper. Likely to be terrific value too as it follows my rule of “hard to pronounce = better value”.

Drink to 2035, 93 points