2011 Wine and Port Vintage
Vintage Summary and Recommendations:
Welcome to Vintage Wine and Port's 2011 wine page. Read on for our summary of the 2011 vintage, our top recommendations and region reports. Scroll down to see all of our wines currently available. If you cannot find what you are looking for please call us on 01425 837177 or Contact Us. We would love to help you with your wine choice!
The 2011 vintage globally was very much a mixed bag, with the growing season appearing to favor cooler climate regions over hot. In Europe, the year was characterized by a back to front growing season. For many, an unseasonably hot spring, cool summer and relatively warm autumn threw the vintage into disarray.
Our Wine Expert currently recommends the following wines for this year:
This Year in History: Fun Fact: our planet reached a population of 7 billion people in 2011.
Eurovision Winner: Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared" by Ell/Nikki
Top Grossing Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Bordeaux: Poor summer weather in 2011 led to mildew and rot. A warm September saved the vintage, but with uneven ripening and a difficult harvest. There was less rot on the Right Bank than on the Left; sorting was essential, but Pomerol produced some excellent wines.
Italian: Piedmont, particularly the Langhe and Roero, experienced an earlier harvest than usual in 2011; warm spells in April, June and July accelerated the development of the vines. Though conditions were dry, nights were cool, distinguishing 2011 from the hot 2003 vintage. What's more, water reserves from winter rains prevented the vines from suffering too much. Tuscany, on the other hand, was under a heatwave from Africa throughout August. This resulted in a harvest roughly three weeks earlier than usual, challenging vintners to retain freshness and elegance in early ripening grape varieties.
Portugal: The 2011 Port vintage is hailed as a legendary vintage one of the best in decades. All of the major port houses declared the 2011 Port vintage as being of exceptional quality. The avalanche of declarations started with Sogrape, owners of Sandeman and Ferreira, followed by Symington, the company that owns Dows, Graham, Warre, Smith Woodhouse and Cockburn and then Taylor Fladgate, owners of the Fonseca, Croft and Taylor's brands. According to Charles Symington, "The 2011 Vintage Ports are characterised by an unusual combination of elegance with power and structure. Whereas “elegant” usually implies lighter-bodied, the 2011s have fantastic aromas and great elegance but are big wines - not an easy balance to achieve." These ports would be an excellent 14 year old wine gift for an anniversary this year, reaching their peak between 2020 and 2050, perhaps even onwards.
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34 products found.
Quinta do Vesuvio Capela, 2011
Capela Vintage Port
SINGLE BOTTLE 75cl
The Capela da Quinta do Vesuvio is made in years when truly exceptional wines are produced – the only prior release was in 2007.
The principal grape varieties chosen were again the Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and the Sousão, all of which performed magnificently at Vesuvio in 2011. For the first time ever, Charles Symington included a small parcel of Alicante Bouschet in a Vintage Port. Through ongoing evaluation over the last few years, the Alicante Bouschet has shown itself to be a very impressive variety, contributing structure and colour, due to its intensely coloured berries.
The Touriga Nacional and the Alicante Bouschet were picked and fermented together on one lagar, as were the Sousão and Touriga Franca in early October. …
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Price: £249.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Warre's Vintage Port, 2011
Vintage Port, Douro
IMPERIAL 6 lt Bottle
***93-95 Points, (NM) The Wine Advocate***
A very rare 6 lt Bottle of the 2011 Vintage Port from Warre's.
Warre’s 2011 shows the deep opaque purple colour of youth and is layered with aromas of sweet blackberry fruit and typically perfumed floral hints of rockrose and fresh violets. On the palate the wine has great finesse and balance, with traces of minerality running through the silky tannic backbone, leading to a long velvety finish.
Learn more about Warre’s
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Price: £995.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Dow's, 2011
Vintage Port HALF BOTTLE 37.5cl
Reviews
"Very inky in hue, this is very tight indeed, with classic Dow dryness/austerity – firm tannins and a yet to be mined concentrated seam of minerals, black currant, berry and cherry. At this very early stage of its life, it means you are more conscious of the spirit, but this positively unshowy Port plainly has a long life ahead given its deep reserves of fruit and imposing structure. Impressively hewn."Sarah Ahmed www.thewinedetective.co.uk
Learn more about Dow’s
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Price: £89.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 2011
Vintage Port, Douro ***19.5 Points- JancisRobinson.com*** ***97-99 Points- RobertParker.com***
RARE MAGNUM FORMAT
Fonseca declares its vintages only in the most exceptional of years, and in 2011, like many, Fonseca benefitted from a perfect ending to the growing season, ensuring optimum ripeness for their grapes. This allowed deep, powerful and aromatic wines to be made on each of the Fonseca Quintas in the Távora and Pinhão valleys. 2011 has thus given Fonseca another opportunity to express the best characteristics of its vintage port to conoisseurs: its concentration of black fruits, its firm tannic grip, its dense velvety texture and its vibrant aromatics. It bears the promise of many years of development in bottle. …
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Price: £285.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 2011
Vintage Port, Douro
The 2011 Vintage Port Wine from Fonseca has been described as "heady, opulent nose. Completely enveloping, Smells as though there is going to be the most fabulous texture. Wow! All stops pulled out for this one. It's all absolutely gorgeous intensity of sweet fruit on the front palate and then gradually the schist and structure reveal themselves. This is really wonderful stuff. So tempting to sip it decades before it is ready." Jancisrobinson.com
Fonseca declares its vintages only in the most exceptional of years, and in 2011, like many, Fonseca benefitted from a perfect ending to the growing season, ensuring optimum ripeness for their grapes. …
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Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
La Rioja Alta, 2011
La Rioja Alta, Gran Reserva
96 Points James Suckling
The 2011 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 is a distinguished wine from the renowned La Rioja Alta winery, showcasing the classic elegance of traditional Rioja. This vintage is a blend of 89% Tempranillo from vines over 60 years old in Briñas, Rodezno, and Villalba, and 11% Graciano from the Montecillo vineyard in Fuenmayor. The grapes were meticulously harvested and transported in refrigerated vehicles to preserve their integrity. After fermentation, the wine aged for four years in American oak barrels crafted by the winery's own coopers, with traditional rackings every six months. Bottling took place in February 2020. …
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Price: £89.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Offley Port, 2011
Vintage Port, Douro
Presented in gift box
*** 90-92 Points Neil Martin ***
The Offley Porto Vintage 2011 Port Wine is produced from Quinta da Boavista and other vineyards in the Pinhão area. Sogrape describes it as: "A wine with an extremely intense colour. A deep, almost-opaque, red. Exceptionally rich aromatically. Black fruits of the forest, especially plum, stand out in the nose, with woody notes of pine and cedar, floral tones of rockrose, hints of sous bois, and spices such as cloves and nutmeg. On the palate, an excellent body, well-present acidity, lively yet well-integrated tannins and hints of black forest fruits, again plum, but also cherry. An intense and persistent finish. …
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Price: £69.95
Stock: Out of Stock
Taylor Fladgate, 2011
Vintage Port
The 2011 Taylor's Vintage Port Wine is made only in exceptional years, following the rigorous selection and tasting process to meet the requirements for declaration. Historically Taylor's has only declared a maximum of 3 vintages per decade. 2011 has been hailed as a classic vintage by all accounts. Ideal ripening conditions in this year have led Fladgate wine-maker David Guimaraens to conclude that the 2011s 'stand out for the purity of the fruit and the quality of the tannins, which are silky and well integrated but provide plenty of structure. The 2011 vintage is textbook Taylors in its structured aromatics and elegance (according to Fladgate Managing Director Adrian Bridge). …
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Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Warre's Vintage Port, 2011
Vintage Port
Warre’s 2011 shows the deep opaque purple colour of youth and is layered with aromas of sweet blackberry fruit and typically perfumed floral hints of rockrose and fresh violets. On the palate the wine has great finesse and balance, with traces of minerality running through the silky tannic backbone, leading to a long velvety finish.
Reviews: "Sweet, warm and mellow, with fresh pure blackberry and black cherry fruit, yet fresh with amazing purity, concentration and depth. Seductive and compelling. Score: 94–96/100" Jamie Goode, www.thewinedetective.
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Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock