Product Overview
97 Points, "Highly Recommended" - Wine Spectator
"A serious Port in the making, with dark currant paste, warmed fig sauce and blackberry reduction flavors pouring through. The brambly grip is deeply embedded and there are gorgeous ganache and licorice snap notes hanging on the finish. Hefty and broad, yet this has cut and energy in reserve. Best from 2035 through 2055. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 1,500 cases made, 600 cases imported." -JM, 12/31/18
94 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"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." -RV, 12/1/18
91 Points - Wine Advocate
"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." -MS, 7/19/18
91 Points - Vinous
"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." -NM, Jun/2018
"A serious Port in the making, with dark currant paste, warmed fig sauce and blackberry reduction flavors pouring through. The brambly grip is deeply embedded and there are gorgeous ganache and licorice snap notes hanging on the finish. Hefty and broad, yet this has cut and energy in reserve. Best from 2035 through 2055. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 1,500 cases made, 600 cases imported." -JM, 12/31/18
94 Points - Wine Enthusiast
"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." -RV, 12/1/18
91 Points - Wine Advocate
"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." -MS, 7/19/18
91 Points - Vinous
"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." -NM, Jun/2018
