Get FREE curbside pickup on any order! Orders are typically taking 1-2 business hours to complete at this time. Please wait for an email confirming that your order is ready before coming to the store.
The Dollar Sale is on now at Premier! For a limited time and on select wines, when you buy one bottle at regular price, get a second identical bottle for just ONE DOLLAR!DOUBLE UP FOR A BUCK!
FREE Shipping to New York State on orders over $200!
Now you can get FREE ground shipping to destinations within New York state on orders over $200! There's no coupon code necessary! This applies to 750ml bottles of wine only.
Portuguese wines are rich in history, with winemaking in Portugal dating back to the Roman Empire.
Portugal is most famous for Port (or “Porto”) wines, which have been produced since the 1600s. Port is classified as a fortified wine and is made in several different styles, including Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottle Vintage and Colheita. Madeira is another example of fortified Portuguese wine.
White wines in Portugal are most commonly represented by a light, bubbly, low-alcohol wine made from grapes with low sugar content and are called “Vinho Verde”. Examples of Vinho Verde do exist in red and rosé varieties but are most typically sold within Portugal.
Other Portuguese wines of note are the dry red (still) wines from important areas such as the Douro Valley, Dão, and Alentejo. These wines have improved in quality over the years and are becoming popular worldwide.
RP98+98–100 pts. - Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - 11th Jul 2019 The 2017 Vintage Port, not quite bottled when seen but the final blend, is a field blend aged for approximately 20 months in wood. It comes in with 100 grams of residual sugar. A step up (or two) on the 2016, this shows fine depth, more focus, vivid fruit and serious power. It’s not particularly thick, austere or astringent, but this is built for the long haul. It is potentially a great Taylor’s, effortlessly combining brilliant fruit and structure. It tastes great now (today, it is far more vivid than its Vinha Velha sibling), but the power makes this hard to drink today. So, have some patience. It will need some time, probably a lot more than indicated, and will likely last longer than indicated as well. As noted in the accompanying article, I don’t see much point to impossibly long drinking windows. At some point, reevaluation is required.SP9797 pts. - Wine Spectator - Dec 31, 2019 This offers up a dense rumble of dark currant, fig and blackberry paste flavors, laced with hints of buckwheat, baker’s chocolate and warm tar. The muscular finish is thickly layered, with threads of alder and espresso cream adding definition along the way. Should be among the more long-lived wines of the vintage. Best from 2035 through 2060. 1,250 cases imported.WE9797 pts. - Wine Enthusiast - 12/31/2019 The structure is currently very dominant in this wine. Its dark tannins are concentrated, waiting for the masked black fruits to come through. Everything is there, it just needs an immense amount of time. Drink from 2030.WS9696 pts. - Wine & Spirits - October 1, 2019 This 2017 has all the markers of a legendary Taylor Port — scents of green fig, the complex tannic impact of schist, the consternating sense of elegance in the face of massive structural power. David Guimaraens bases this wine on fruit from the Quinta de Vargellas, an estate on the south bank of the river in the arid Douro Superior. In our tastings, it came after several 2017s that were sourced from vineyards on the north bank, closer to Pinhão, and, while it would be simplistic to consider this a definitive difference (there are many exposures in each quinta, and other quinta parcels in the blends), there was a stark shift from the blackness of those wines to the sour-cherry impression of this wine, and its floral fraise des bois notes. Those flavors keep pushing up against the dark shadows of the wine’s schist tannins, an undulating wake of red fruit and minerals that carries the wine’s muscular power into memory.
SP8989 pts. - Wine Spectator - May 31, 2017 This offers a sweet yet still fresh mix of almond, dried orange peel and piecrust notes, zipped up with a thread of green tea through the finish. Drink now. 5,500 cases made.WE8585 pts. - Wine Enthusiast - 12/15/2008 A traditional medium style, aged in cask for three years before bottling. This is light, flavored with dates and softly sweet. It misses some of the classic Madeira acidity, leaving a gentle aftertaste.
JS9898 pts. - JamesSuckling.com - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 Lots of ripe fruit here with raisins and wet earth that turn to violets and hot stones. Full-bodied, tannic and powerful with fantastic grip and intensity. Grabs you. Impressive. Drink in 2025.SP9797 pts. - Wine Spectator - Dec 31, 2018 This leads in with bramble, spearmint and blueberry notes, with the energy extending through the core of dark plum, blackberry and fig fruit. The finish features a strong graphite spine, allowing this to draw deep water, but this remains stylish in feel overall. The definition of suave. Best from 2030 through 2055. 4,900 cases made.WE9797 pts. - Wine Enthusiast - 12/1/2018 This bottling brings together a fine structure with great fruit to give a luscious wine that is also destined for long-term aging. With its ripe berry flavors sustained by some acidity, this is already balanced. Drink from 2028.RP96+96–98 pts. - Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - 19th Jul 2018 The 2016 Vintage Port is a field blend that was not quite bottled when seen (set for a week later), but it was the final blend. It was aged for 20 months in wood and comes in with 99 grams of residual sugar. This Fonseca is remarkably expressive, lifted and gloriously fresh. It has good concentration but some years have had more and seemed sexier. However, the most notable feature is the structure. It is very impressive in structure, that classic Port power and firmness coming to the fore and overshadowing the rest at the moment. This is very tight and very unevolved. Don’t even think of buying it if you aren’t prepared to cellar it. The 2030 start date that I have will not be even close to late enough if you want harmony and complexity. To me, this is the best of the three 2016s from the Fladgate Group this issue (Croft and Taylor being the other two), thanks to its pure intensity, but time will tell if it becomes as sexy as I’m sure Taylor’s will be. In the meanwhile, Fonseca looks like one of the greats of this vintage.VN9696 pts. - Vinous - Jun 2018 The 2016 Fonseca Vintage Port began to be picked on 21 September at their Panascal vineyard, their Quinta do Cruzeira vineyard not picked until 6 October. It is deep, almost inky in colour. The bouquet is very intense with luscious black fruit laced with embers, clove and hints of bay leaf. There is wonderful purity here and a broodiness that suggests you’d better be patient. The palate is sweet and lively on the entry with some gorgeous ginger and curry leaf notes littered over the compact black fruit. There is wonderful density to this Fonseca. It is like a coiled spring with so much energy towards the finish that you just know this will be a long-term prospect. Superb. Production is 4,900 cases.
member store
Taylor Fladgate Vintage Porto
