Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port 2015
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Quinta do Vesuvio’s 2015 Vintage Port is a fabulous accompaniment to chocolate desserts, such as flourless chocolate cake or dark chocolate truffles, but can also be enjoyed on its own.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Vintage Port Quinta do Vesuvio is a blend of Touriga Nacional 60%, Touriga Franca 30% and Sousão 10%. It comes in at 113 grams per liter of residual sugar. This is beautifully balanced, but still a "wow" because of its terrific fruit. It is packed with luscious and intensely flavorful fruit, laced with some dark plum and baked cherry nuances. The concentration is good—not exceptional, perhaps, but it shows fine precision on the delicious finish, too. As is the case with most 2015s, it is also rather elegant and very fresh, the fruit lifted and well defined, never sloppy. It tightens noticeably with air, proving that its backbone can't be discounted. It should age very well but be approachable a bit on the younger side, too. It could certainly use time in the cellar, the more the better if you like complexity, but it should be in fairly decent shape around 2030 or so. I personally would like to leave it another 10 years beyond that, but that's up to you. If you insist on diving in sooner, that's also up to you (and if you twist my arm, I will confess that the fruit is very attractive, perhaps even irresistible just now). This is one of the most intriguing Symington 2015s, perhaps my personal pick of the litter (although there are some competitors). It has some upside potential, too. If it never achieves more, it will still have you oohing and aahing throughout its useful life.
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James Suckling
Extremely aromatic with violet, blackberry and blueberry character. Full body, beautiful center palate and length. Tight and focused. Goes on for minutes. Super quality. Try in 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
Full of ripe fruit, this wine is rich while also having a delicately perfumed character. With its spice, generous fruits and sense of poise, it will age well. Drink from 2027.
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Although historical records mention Vesuvio as early as 1565 it was primarily under the auspices of the Douro's redoubtable widow, Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, that this vineyard estate acquired its legendary reputation. The estate's industrious founder was her husband who from 1820 began the ambitious task of planting the vineyard. This gargantuan enterprise involving the shaping and construction of terraces on the intractable slopes and the planting of hundreds of thousands of vines took his legions of workers thirteen years to complete. Following the founder's death, his widow continued to develop the property, which under her able management became the showpiece quinta of the Douro. At Vesuvio she built one of the Douro's largest wineries, containing eight granite 'lagares' (treading tanks) each capable of holding 25 pipes (1 pipe: 550 litres). In 1989 Quinta do Vesuvio was purchased by the Symington family whose involvement in the growing, production and shipping of Port began more than a century ago. The family decided from the outset to preserve the traditional character of the Quinta especially with regard to the vinification process where the time-honored method of treading the grapes by foot has been retained. Some technological innovations have been introduced principally in the form of a cooling system to control fermentation in this ancient wine making method. In view of the outstanding quality of the wine, Vesuvio is offered exclusively as a single Quinta Vintage Port. Only about 50 pipes (36,000 bottles) are bottled each year although the production of the property is much greater and this exemplifies the family's steadfast policy of releasing none but the very finest wines from the Quinta.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.