Pintas 2019

The 2019 Pintas Vintage Port is a field blend from more than 40 different grapes from very old vines (around 90 years). It comes in with 108 grams of residual sugar and was bottled in May 2021 after 19 months in old chestnut casks. Wine & Soul has gradually made itself into a top Port producer, easily competing with the old and big names. This is another great example, a fine companion to some brilliant ones in the last few vintages. Which is the best? This has a pretty good chance of claiming that prize, but let's come back around 2035 for a better view. In the meanwhile, it looks like one of the finest 2019s I have seen. Intensely powerful, this is a very different style, happily, than the producer's table wines. With table wines, they avoid rusticity and make polished wines. That's not to say this is too astringent, but this Port lets it all hang out, with some old-school power and intensity. The beautiful fruit is pretty fine too, and it smells great. To be sure, it is a little subdued by the pure power today. A few days later, the lovely fruit asserts itself more. A few more days (six days from the first pour), it had hardly budged again. If someone told me that it had just been opened an hour earlier, that would've been believable. It then adds fine mid-palate finesse, never seeming ponderous but always seeming deep. This is going to need at least a decade of cellaring. That just gets you to approachability, as I don't think it will be close to ready at that point. This is all about potential, but it is so brilliant on so many levels that it makes me want to lean up on it right now. To be sure, there's a lot left to prove.

 This has aromas of dried herbs, plums and blackberries. Iodine, gravy and spice box, too. Savory and flavorful with a full body and chewy, firm tannins. So much packed in here. Needs some time to soften. Try in 2024

Black-hearted with narrow purple rim. Intense black fruit, both blackberry and cassis though there's a complex mix. Even with such impressive fruit concentration, there is also the dark, rocky, savoury Douro character shining through. Powerful, sweet but gives a wonderfully dry impression because of the layered, dry, compact tannins. There's spice and very dark chocolate, in both the texture and flavour. The dry tannin texture just increases the elegance and freshness. A beauty with great persistence. (JH)

High-toned and floral on the nose, this expressive red offers a lovely core of crushed black and red berry and cherry fruit underscored by a rich streak of loamy minerality. Tightly meshed, with dense tannins providing weight and definition, while accents of garrigue, balsamico and spice box lend fine detail. Like a racehorse at the gate, this is raring to go. Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Rufete. Best from 2024 through 2034. 491 cases made, 49 cases imported.

This major wine is, as always, impressive and ageworthy. Dark tannins infused with minerality and layers of black fruits are powerful. At the same time, they have elegance to balance the great richness. Age this wine and drink from 2026. Roger Voss