1997 | Fonseca | Vintage Port

Full saturated ruby. Inky, brooding aromas of syrupy black fruits and violet. Dense, thick and tactile, with superb depth of flavor and compelling juicy sweetness. A fine-grained structure that allows toffee, toasted sesame and caramel notes to fill in easily on the finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Somewhat of a lightweight for Fonseca, but undeniably charming, this dark ruby/purple-colored wine offers a floral, exotic, flamboyant bouquet, a sweet, fleshy style, but not a great deal of weight or massiveness. Heady alcohol, sweet tannin, and a velvety texture make for a gorgeous finish.

• Decanter: A declaration rather over-shadowed by 1994 and looking good value against its peers. Open, ripe berry fruit aromas come singing from the glass; rich plummy flavours on the palate, ripe and fleshy, wrapped by firm yet ripe tannins that linger on to the finish.

Producer Information

Fonseca is a well-regarded Port house producing quality wines and known for the lush, exotic style of its vintage Port releases. Encompassing three quintas (vineyard estates) across the Douro region, the house makes a variety of Port styles, ranging from the reserve ruby, Bin 27, to white ports and Tawny ports of various ages. Fonseca's vintage releases are the most notable, however, and several vintages have attracted 100-point ratings and glowing reviews from major wine critics. In years deemed not good enough for the top Port, a earlier-drinking label called Guimaraens Vintage is made. The three quintas, or vineyard estates, are located in the Cima Corgo (above the Corgo river and its confluence with the Douro), around the town of Pinhão. The Cima Corgo is the more central region, located between the Baixa (lower) Corgo to the west, closer to Porto, and the Douro Superior, which stretches to the border with Spain. Two of the quintas, Quinta do Cruzeiro and Quinta de Santo António, are in the Pinhão Valley and have supplied Fonseca with grapes for over a century. The former is associated with providing tannic backbone and dense black fruit to the vintage port, while the latter estate provides aromatic complexity.

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