Product Overview
The Croft 430th Anniversary Reserve Ruby Port is a special, celebratory release of their Reserve that was bottled in June 2018 to honor the 430th Anniversary of the port house's founding in 1588. The label displays a reproduction of the work "Sinking of the Spanish Armada in 1588" by the Dutch artist Jan Luyken, which is part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The nose opens with a fine, crisp fruitiness, black cherry, blackberry, cassis, and fresh plum. Delicate floral notes of rose petal and violet emerge to provide elegance and complexity. The wine has the typical Croft roundness and smoothness offset by a fresh acidity and firm but well integrated tannins. The palate is crammed with intense berry fruit and finishes with luscious flavors of strawberry and cherry. Overall, a superb reserve Port displays all the fine fruit character which is a hallmark of the Croft style.
89 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"Black in color, this attractive young Port has been blended to celebrate the founding of Croft 430 years ago, in 1588. The wine is classic ruby, bringing ripe black plums into balance with dried fruits and and generous tannins. Drink now." -RV, 2/1/19
88 Points - Vinous
"The NV 430th Anniversary Ruby Reserve Port is a blend of various grapes and field blends to reach an average age of 2.5 years old. It was aged for three to four years in wood for varying lots and comes in with 102 grams of residual sugar (a correction of an earlier note). Although a non-vintage wine, this is easily identifiable because it is a one-off—a single bottling in June 2018 for the 430th anniversary of Croft. Like its non-anniversary sibling this issue, it comes in an atmospheric, fat bottle. The special label adds a bit more atmosphere. If you want to see the difference between fat and finesse, try this next to the regular Croft. This has far more precision and a better expression of fruit. They both have reasonably good structure, but this has more lift to the fruit—although it seems lighter. Some two days later, it was pretty delicious, finishing with obvious sweetness. The fruitiness is the big bragging point here, at least after some aeration. However, while it seemed gorgeously structured on opening (more so than when I first saw it around bottling time), all the tannins fell off with that two-day test. That left it flabbier, relatively speaking. It was a little disappointing in that regard—but always delicious. Well, that's why it is a Ruby Reserve and not a Vintage Port. The price uptick next to the regular Croft is moderate, which makes it worth trading up just for style, if nothing else." -MS, 1/31/19
The nose opens with a fine, crisp fruitiness, black cherry, blackberry, cassis, and fresh plum. Delicate floral notes of rose petal and violet emerge to provide elegance and complexity. The wine has the typical Croft roundness and smoothness offset by a fresh acidity and firm but well integrated tannins. The palate is crammed with intense berry fruit and finishes with luscious flavors of strawberry and cherry. Overall, a superb reserve Port displays all the fine fruit character which is a hallmark of the Croft style.
89 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"Black in color, this attractive young Port has been blended to celebrate the founding of Croft 430 years ago, in 1588. The wine is classic ruby, bringing ripe black plums into balance with dried fruits and and generous tannins. Drink now." -RV, 2/1/19
88 Points - Vinous
"The NV 430th Anniversary Ruby Reserve Port is a blend of various grapes and field blends to reach an average age of 2.5 years old. It was aged for three to four years in wood for varying lots and comes in with 102 grams of residual sugar (a correction of an earlier note). Although a non-vintage wine, this is easily identifiable because it is a one-off—a single bottling in June 2018 for the 430th anniversary of Croft. Like its non-anniversary sibling this issue, it comes in an atmospheric, fat bottle. The special label adds a bit more atmosphere. If you want to see the difference between fat and finesse, try this next to the regular Croft. This has far more precision and a better expression of fruit. They both have reasonably good structure, but this has more lift to the fruit—although it seems lighter. Some two days later, it was pretty delicious, finishing with obvious sweetness. The fruitiness is the big bragging point here, at least after some aeration. However, while it seemed gorgeously structured on opening (more so than when I first saw it around bottling time), all the tannins fell off with that two-day test. That left it flabbier, relatively speaking. It was a little disappointing in that regard—but always delicious. Well, that's why it is a Ruby Reserve and not a Vintage Port. The price uptick next to the regular Croft is moderate, which makes it worth trading up just for style, if nothing else." -MS, 1/31/19
