2003 | Fonseca | Vintage Port

Red Wine: 2003 | Fonseca | Vintage Port

Brooding, reticent nose of cassis and kirsch; there’s nothing cooked about this one! Then massive, sweet and superrich in the mouth; explodes with exotic ripeness. Intriguing note of graphite.

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Producer: Fonseca

Ratings: WA | 94 WS | 96

Vintage: 2003

Size: 750ml

ABV: 20%

Varietal: Port Blend Red

Country/Region: Portugal, Douro

Brooding, reticent nose of cassis and kirsch; there’s nothing cooked about this one! Then massive, sweet and superrich in the mouth; explodes with exotic ripeness. Intriguing note of graphite.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2003 Vintage Port comes in with 92 grams per liter of residual sugar. This is a big boy in terms of voluptuous fruit, but (at least as double decanted overnight), it is drinkable now, even if it still tightens noticeably as it sits in the glass. Make no mistake, thoughit is nowhere near peak. This rather dry Fonseca is big and fat, yet there is also some concept of balance here, surprisingly. This very warm vintage wasn’t exactly shy. The concentration easily counters the power, and it steadily acquired better balance as it sat and aired. In terms of complexity, there’s no there there yet, if you’ll allow the Gertrude Stein summary. In that sense, at least, it is far too young and needs another decade. Winemaker David Guimaraens told me that he thinks his grandchildren will be able to enjoy it, so there is no rush. Cellar this for another decade, at the least, more like 20 years if you like them softer and more complex. This will still improve, but it has some more questions to answer in the cellar.

• Wine Spectator: Lots of grape and raisin on the nose. Full-bodied, chewy and lightly sweet. Serious concentration, with lots of grip on the finish. Just what to expect from a young Vintage Port.

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 released. 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 Pinho. 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 Antnio, are in the Pinho 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. Quinta do Panascal in the Tvora Valley is a newer purchase (it was acquired in 1978) and gives rich, jammy flavors and texture. It is also the source for the Single Quinta Vintage wine which bears its name. Fonseca was founded in 1815 by the Fonseca and Monteiro families, with the Guimaraens family taking over during the second half of the 19th Century. In 1949, the company was sold to Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman which had loaned Fonseca considerable sums since the outbreak of war in 1939. Despite this ownership, Fonseca is run as a separate entity and various members of the Guimaraens family have held key positions ever since.