2008 Fonseca Guimaraens

Deep ruby colour. Still raw and youthful on the nose with summer pudding, briary fruit and baked vanilla. Highly floral with clove tones and slightly jagged, youthful tannins. Rich and chalky, this needs a little time to integrate fully which should help to soften the fruit and improve balance. (TP)

The 2008 Guimaraens Vintage Port is not a re-release; it has been in the marketplace, but it is a new submission for us. It comes in with 97.4 grams of sugar and 20.3% alcohol. This is pretty intense. Tight and tannic still, this is a very focused Port with fine intensity of flavor and powerful aromatics. There's a bit of cistus up front for the aromatics and a bit of a crisp edge on the finish. The fruit is certainly ripe, though, even though the mid-palate is elegant. This intense 2008 is not ready. For all of the trend toward drinking Port young, I'd say this needs around 10 more years in the cellar, depending on how you like them. (Then, if you really want complexity, you might wait until 2035 or beyond.) All that said, it drank pretty well when I tried it again 24 hours later. This is a fine selection for the cellar at a pretty nice price for a Port that is already 10 years into its aging curve.

97g/l RS, 4.6g/l TA. Guimarens is the same blend as the regular vintage in an undeclared year, hence the sobriquet. Very youthful blueberry and raspberry fruit, firm tannins, round and approachable. (RH)