Vintageport.se

Est. 2011

Great Vintage Port Tasting

Portal

The Wine Society 18% had a tasting of the house Portal on March 15, 2018. Out of the 15 Vintage Ports the producer has released, we had 14 in this tasting. This includes some Single Quinta Vintages from Quinta do Portal and Quinta dos Muros. The tasting was blind, meaning that the group did not know the theme of the tasting. They didn't even know that all 14 wines were from the same producer or that they were Vintage Ports. Only the arrangers of the tasting, two members of the Wine Society 18%, knew the setup. So for all three of us this was a total blind tasting, we did not know the producer or the Vintages.

You can read more about the house of Portal here.

Portal1995-2000

The wines were served ordered by age, youngest first and oldest last. One of the wines was by some of the tasters considered to have a deficiency in the bouquet (Vintage 2003 +) which affected the points, but all the other wines were in perfect condition.

For about half of the tasters in the group the house of Portal were unknown. We have of course tasted them several times before since they have been available in Denmark for many years. The Portal wines are in general having a good fruit with dark berries, mulberry and cherries but also notes from the oak, like cacao, roasted notes and a bit of spiciness in the more mature Vintages. Interesting to see is that the big Vintages like 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2007 all performed very well. More surprising was that the still young 2009 Quinta do Portal reached 3rd place.

Portal1999-2003

Overall the tasting was an eye opener for many in the group that the less known producers located in the Douro valley can deliver Vintage Ports of a consistent and high level. For us it was a fantastic opportunity to be able to sit down and analyse all of these Vintage Ports at the same time. Considering the high notes on the older examples in the tasting we look forward to the bright future for this Producer and their wine maker Paolo Coutinho.

Portal2005-2008 Portal2009-2014

Tasting notes. Note that the points are for the actual bottle tasted. Read about how we set point on the page "How to understand our points valuations"

Sort on: Vintage Sten's rank Jörgen's rank Stefan's rank Group's rank

HousePortalVintage1997
ColourStill quite dark but mature, yellow in colour.
BouquetCream candy, candy, apricot, oak, mulberry and orange in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Mature and almost on top but still some tannin and will probably be better. Elegant and quite complex with a nice finish. Quite sweet. Easy to drink today and very enjoyable.
SAI point16.25JB point16.90SS point16.75Group point16.50
SAI rank1JB rank1SS rank1Group rank1
Comment
HousePortalVintage2000
ColourYellow mature in colour but still rather dark.
BouquetCherry, red mature berry, raisins and marzipan in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Quite dry and mature, almost peaking but still some very soft tannin. Cherry, raisins and toffee in taste. Easy to drink and like. Elegant and balanced with a nice finish.
SAI point16.25JB point15.75SS point16.40Group point15.57
SAI rank1JB rank4SS rank3Group rank3
Comment
HousePortalVintage2007
ColourVery dark blue in colour but with a yellow rim.
BouquetDark berry, mulberry but also some cacao, coffee, vanilla and spiciness in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Very agreeable to drink with quite soft tannins. Lots of intense fruit, mulberry, spiciness and dark berry but also vanilla and cacao in flavour. Easy to drink and like. A very elegant port with a nice balanced and long finish. Will of course be much better and very interesting to follow.
SAI point16.25JB point15.50SS point16.25Group point15.39
SAI rank1JB rank7SS rank4Group rank7
Comment
HousePortalVintage1999
ColourMature yellow in colour.
BouquetHerbal, some toffee, fudge, crème caramel and old grocery shop in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Mature and probably quite mature. Roses, toffee and some crème caramel in flavour. Balanced and easy to drink with a nice quite attractive finish. Very attractive and lovely port!
SAI point16.00JB point15.50SS point15.50Group point15.54
SAI rank4JB rank7SS rank10Group rank5
Comment
HousePortalVintage2011
ColourDark blue in colour.
BouquetDark berry, mulberry, cacao, dark chocolate, toffee and cream candy in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Tannin but quite drinkable and enjoyable. Balanced, elegant and very promising with some sweetness. Dark berry, toffee, cacao and cream candy in taste. Nice and quite attractive finish. Still very promising.
SAI point16.00JB point15.50SS point15.50Group point14.89
SAI rank4JB rank7SS rank10Group rank10
Comment
HousePortalVintage1995
ColourDark but yellow in colour.
BouquetQuite nice coffee, cream candy, fudge, some cacao and tea in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Quite mature and peaking. Balanced buts some very soft tannin is still there. Cream candy, candy and fudge in taste. Rather complex with a nice but rather dry finish. Easy to like and drink indeed.
SAI point15.90JB point16.40SS point16.50Group point16.21
SAI rank6JB rank2SS rank2Group rank2
Comment
HousePortalVintage2003
ColourStill very dark in colour with a little yellow rim.
BouquetMulberry, dark berry, blue berry, ginger and a little spiciness in the nose
TasteMedium body. Rather mature and easy to drink even if some soft tannin exist. Dark fruit, mulberry, some chocolate and some spiciness in flavour. Very sweet but balanced and easy to like. Quite nice and attractive finish. Lovely port indeed!
SAI point15.90JB point15.90SS point16.00Group point15.43
SAI rank6JB rank3SS rank5Group rank6
Comment
HouseQuinta do PortalVintage2009
ColourStill very dark blue in colour.
BouquetBlackberry, black cherry, mulberry, some Christmas raisins, liquorice, toffee and roasted oak in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Lovely tannins and nice fruit. Balanced. Loaded with dark berry but also liquorice and toffee in flavour. Quite sweet. Elegant with a nice finish. Easy to drink and enjoy.
SAI point15.90JB point15.75SS point15.90Group point15.57
SAI rank6JB rank4SS rank7Group rank3
Comment
HouseQuinta do PortalVintage2008
ColourDark blue in colour with a hint of a yellow rim.
BouquetBlackberry, mulberry, black cherry, fruit, some eucalyptus and roasted oak in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Good tannins but quite easy to drink and like already. Quite dry. Dark berry, fruit and some oak in flavour. Quite nice but not so long finish.
SAI point15.50JB point15.40SS point15.75Group point15.04
SAI rank9JB rank12SS rank9Group rank9
Comment
HouseQuinta dos Muros PortalVintage2014
ColourDark blue almost black in colour.
BouquetDark berry, mulberry, some spiciness, cacao and fruit in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Immature with lots of tannin. Some sweetness and loaded with dark berry and fruit. Not hard to swallow and easy to drink and enjoy. Modern style of port with a nice finish
SAI point15.50JB point15.50SS point15.25Group point14.43
SAI rank9JB rank7SS rank13Group rank13
Comment
HousePortal PlusVintage2003
ColourDark blue in colour.
BouquetDark cherry, dark chocolate, cacao and blueberry in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Still soft tannin but rather mature. Balanced and quite attractive and easy to like and drink. A nice finish and enjoyable. Modern port.
SAI point15.40JB point15.75SS point13.00Group point14.89
SAI rank11JB rank4SS rank14Group rank10
Comment
HouseQuinta do PortalVintage2005
ColourDark in colour with a yellow rim.
BouquetCherry, mulberry, black berry roasted oak and mint in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Rather mature but still some soft tannin. Mint and mulberry in flavour. Some integrated oak. Balanced and quite complex. Very nice and interesting finish. Very enjoyable now.
SAI point15.40JB point15.40SS point15.90Group point14.71
SAI rank11JB rank12SS rank7Group rank12
Comment
HouseQuinta do PortalVintage2006
ColourDark blue in colour with a yellow rim.
BouquetFruit, mulberry, dark berry, cherry, herbs and blueberry in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Still some very soft tannin but rather enjoyable. Mulberry, dark berry and herbs in flavour. Nice fruit and good balanced with quite an elegant but tannic finish.
SAI point15.40JB point15.50SS point16.00Group point15.29
SAI rank11JB rank7SS rank5Group rank8
Comment
HouseQuinta dos Muros PortalVintage2013
ColourVery dark blue in colour.
BouquetDark berries, roasted vats, blackberries, dark cherry, some spiciness and cinnamon in the nose.
TasteMedium body. Immature but quite sweet at first. Lots of tannin and a promising port. Balanced and easy to drink and enjoy already now. Loaded with dark berry and spiciness. Modern style of port with a nice and very promising finish. Will be interesting to follow.
SAI point15.40JB point15.40SS point15.40Group point14.36
SAI rank11JB rank12SS rank12Group rank14
Comment

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