Description
This 2016 Vintage Port Wine from Croft has the elegance of a classic style. It has an opulent aromatic expression, exuding perfectly balanced pure fruit. The nose reveals a rich gourmet consisting of strawberry and blackcurrant jammy notes. With aeration, the nose further hints at herbal notes that signify the signature of old vines from Quinta da Roêda. Full of flavour, the palate opens with small red fruit and evolves with tight and fine-grained tannins that give it structure and volume. A great Vintage Port.
***97 Points-James Suckling***
***94 Points- Neal Martin, vinous.com***
***91 Points-Derek Smedley MW***
***17/20 Points-Richard Mayson***
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Reviews
***97 Points-James Suckling***
Extremely perfumed with dark-berry and currant aromas. Hints of earth and spices. Full-bodied, round and medium sweet. Hints of resin. Opulent yet restrained. Shows ripe and beautiful fruit with clarity. Try in 2025.
***94 Points- Neal Martin, vinous.com***
The 2016 Croft Vintage Port has a taut bouquet at first that demands a good 20 or 30 minutes to get into its stride. It eventually reveals scents of blackberry, bilberry, chimney soot, clove, and just a hint of scorched earth in the background. The palate is spicy and vivacious on the entry: black fruit, clove, white pepper and curry powder (almost like a Balti!) I love the personality imbued into this Croft, a Vintage Port that seems to be wearing its heart on its sleeve. Excellent. Production is 3,050 cases. Drink 2026 - 2055.
***91 Points-Derek Smedley MW***
Red fruits dominate at the start fragrance jasmine and eucalyptus with fresh raspberries and loganberries. Sweet in the middle in the middle voluptuous, fleshy and plump rich black plum with under the opulence the fleshiness there is balancing freshness a tannic streak the finish is lighter and aromatic. 2031-52
***17/20 Points-Richard Mayson***
Based on Quinta da Roeda at Pinhão: open, rich plummy aromas with minty ripeness evident, a touch of hedgerow too; very much in the recent Croft mold, which they describe as ‘rubenesque’, i.e. soft, plump and fleshy with voluptuous fruit backed by ripe tannins that blossom on the finish. 17/20. 3050 cases produced.
***92-94 Points- Parker***
The 2016 Vintage Port is a field blend that was set to be bottled about a week after this tasting. It was the final blend, aged for 20 months in wood. It comes in with 104 grams of residual sugar. Tight, powerful and very intense, this is a big boy with the firmness you expect from fine Vintage Port, although the Fonseca is even more powerful. Showing good concentration and a fresh, lifted finish too, this is impressive at the outset. Initially, I was wowed by this. A few more tastes with more air made me think I'd like to see it prove some things in the cellar. It's not hot, but it seems a bit more alcoholic than its Fonseca and Taylor siblings. Still, there's a long way to go before making a final call. As noted, this is very tight, not nearly as approachable as many 2016s are in this relatively restrained year. It won't sear your mouth with tanninsùthey are not TOO hardùbut you are going to have to cellar it a while to allow it to acquire more complexity and more harmony. I'm not quite convinced this will ever become as attractive as Taylor and Fonseca in this vintage, though.
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