SMITH WOODHOUSE Vintage Port 2016 Bottle

Description

Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port 2016 is an outstanding release, showcasing the quality of the Quinta da Madalena vineyard. James Suckling awards it 96 points, praising its floral notes and dark fruit character, noting that it's a complete young vintage Port that's focused and impressive from start to finish. Wine Enthusiast rates it 94 points, highlighting its full, rich body, dark tannins, and layered blackberry flavours, making it a generous wine with long-term aging potential, recommending consumption starting in 2028. Decanter scores it 92 points, noting the fragrant, ripe cherry aromas and well-defined berry fruit on the palate, with fine-grained, peppery tannins leading to a long, sinewy finish. This Vintage Port is poised for greatness and perfect for aging.

*****

The Symington family, the owner of Smith Woodhouse, is pleased to announce that it has decided to declare the 2016 Vintage, just the third Vintage Port release from Smith Woodhouse in the last decade. As in previous Vintage Port declarations, this is a very small bottling and represents the very best production from Smith Woodhouse’s own Quinta da Madalena vineyard. Smith Woodhouse has a long association with one of the Douro Valley’s finest areas, the Rio Torto Valley. As a specialist producer, Smith Woodhouse possesses an in-depth knowledge of this area’s terroirs, and the core of its wines come from the Madalena vineyard, set in the very heart of the Rio Torto. Tasting Note: Aromas suggesting bergamot and tea-leaf, as well as floral aromas of rockrose and violets. Substantial on the palate, showing ripe, black fruit and liquorice. The seamless, peppery tannins give freshness and excellent structure. Grape variety percentages: Touriga Nacional – 62%, Touriga Franca – 21%, Sousão – 9%, Alicante Bouschet – 8%.

JAMES SUCKLING 96 points
This is extremely floral with dark fruit and plum character. Full-bodied, very tight and focused. It's a complete young vintage Port that is great from start to finish. Rio Torto fruit makes this great! Better in 2022.

WINE ENTHUSIAST 94 points
Full and rich, the wine has dark tannins and dense blackberry flavors. It is generous wine—juicy, perfumed and layered with impressive tannins. This is a wine with a long-term future, drink from 2028. — Roger Voss

DECANTER 92 points
Tasted by: Richard Mayson
(at Decanter Magazine's December 2018 issue Port 2016 vintage report, 30 May 2018) Part of Port 2016: Vintage report and top releases
Drinking Window: 2028 - 2045
Entirely from Quinta da Madelena in the Torto Valley, primarily a field blend of old vines that were picked late. Open, fragrant, ripe cherry and floral fruit aromas with a touch or tar-like intensity. Well defined berry fruit on the palate with fine-grained, peppery tannins leading to a long sinewy finish. Middle-to-long distance wine, leaner in style than others from the Symington Estates.

VINOUS 91 points
The 2016 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port represents the best production from the Quinta da Madalena vineyard, where picking did not begin until 28 September. It perhaps just lacks the same intensity and complexity of its peers with black truffle and smoke aromas infusing the black fruit. The palate is well balanced with a spicy, stem ginger tinged opening that shows much more promise than the nose. I admire the tension here, a nimble and agile Vintage Port that gathers weight towards the finish. Fine, but perhaps a more short-term proposition than its peers. - Neal Martin

THE WINE ADVOCATE 91 points
Reviewed by: Mark Squires
Drink Date: 2020 - 2056
The 2016 Vintage Port is an equal blend of old vines and Touriga Franca, coming in with 113 grams per liter of residual sugar. Fresher, livelier and lusher than the Warre's this issue—which is the most accessible of the Symington declarations—it is also going to be approachable relatively young. This is a fine Port, but it's not truly made for greatness. If it is not quite as rich and decadent as Warre's, it is more lifted on the finish, with a sunny feel and a more aromatic beginning. I liked them about equally well, but the styles are certainly different. Neither may be the best agers. Bottled in May 2018, there were 1,500 cases produced.

Part of the Symington Family houses, Smith Woodhouse was declared this year, along with everything else. All of them were bottled, although not long in bottle. They are set for release in October 2018.

Charles Symington said that 2016 started off very rainy, followed by a hot and dry summer, but with moderate temperatures. It was fairly apparent it would be a later vintage. In mid-August, some rain helped the maturation. At the beginning of September, there was a wave of hot weather. He said that was a crucial moment when he thought of starting harvest, even though it was not quite perfect, but they waited. Victory goes to the bold. Rain in the second week of September caused them to hold back another week, beginning harvest around 22 September. It was a very late harvest, creating a certain element of risk. Touriga Franca, he said, is particularly susceptible to rain. But there was no rain for the next 30 days, making harvest easy. Charles said that the "blue skies and mild temperatures from the 13th September to the 10th October allowed for the Nacional to be picked in late September and the Franca in early October in perfect conditions with fantastic balance. The freshness coming through in these wines being a defining feature of this vintage."

As we debate the trends in Ports (see, last year's article on the 2015s, "Undeclared and Unashamed"), it's worth noting that my favorites of the Symington group are easily the single-plot wines—The Stone Terraces and Capela, both wine-of-the-vintage candidates. Published: Jul 19, 2018