Wine and Port Vintage

Vintage Summary and Recommendations:

Welcome to Vintage Wine and Port's 2016 wine page. Read on for our summary of the 2016 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 2016 vintage was mostly excellent. Highlights mainly lie in the classic regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo and Tuscany. Port is also a no-brainer, although with this level of quality, expect prices to be high.

Our Wine Expert currently recommends the following wines for this year:

Barolo 2016 Vietti Piedmont Castiglione

Quevedo 2016 Vintage Port

Quinta da Devesa 2016 Late Bottled Vintage Port

Taylors 2016 Vintage Port – Half Bottle

 
This Year in History: Fun Fact: Andrew Lawrence became the fastest runner to complete a marathon dressed as a fruit.
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Bordeaux: Bordeaux was excellent and could well be legendary, although more time is perhaps needed to truly tell. Sauternes was also very good, which is unusual, as a good year for dry Bordeaux tends not to be such a good year for sweet Sauternes.
 
Italian: Italy enjoyed a great vintage, with both Piedmont and Tuscany performing very well. For Port, 2016 was exceptional and likely a legendary year with all major houses declaring.
 
Portugal: The 2016 vintage port declaration came as no surprise given that the excellent 2015 vintage was passed over in favour of this vintage. The 2016 declaration is the first since the outstanding 2011 vintage and will inevitably draw comparisons. I have now had two tastings of the 2016, one in May and one in September. My overall impression is that the declaration is justified. The wines are lighter in body and at this stage in their evolution. Compared to the 2011 they are more nuanced and perhaps reflective of the winemaker’s skill and house style.

All of the major shippers declared the 2016. The yield is tiny as a cold and wet spring made for a tough start to the year. The very hot weather that followed hampered the ripening process as the vines shut down. The picking season was dry which meant that winemakers could pick the grapes at the optimum ripeness. Production release volumes are very small, for instance only 72 cases were released of the Nacional!

The reception for the 2016 vintage amongst critics has been very positive. James Suckling awarded the 2016 Taylor’s vintage port top marks (100 points). With most shippers such as Cockburn and Grahams scoring well into outstanding category. The ports although approachable in their youth, will be at their optimum between 2025 and 2060+. Prices are quite high for the premium brands due to small yields. However, there are some highly rated, lower cost wines from Skeffington, Burmester and Messias that represent an outstanding quality to price ratio.

In summary, this is a solid vintage declaration. Small production and high ratings make premium brands a solid investment that can be laid down for decades. Great value can be obtained searching out the lesser known producers. (TC – VWP)

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