Simon Field: A fulsome and somewhat unforthcoming nose, the heat of the moment carries all before it; smoke, dust, tapenade, and sheltered hallways, Vermeer in the height of a Delft summer; the palate is more industrious, the imposition of warm and almost charred fruit scarring the palate with the reveille of infinite possibility; in this case, the vinous possibility of capturing the extensive heat but not losing the fruit profile. Ripe, dark fruit, dense tar-rich tannins, and the eloquent description of a very particular year. | 91

Andrew Jefford: Dark black-red, somber and dense. Bottle 1: TCA. Bottle 2: Generously contoured, beefy black fruits: blackcurrant and blackberry, dusted with sugar and spices. Hugely appealing, and with some herbal hillside complexities, too. Creamy-sweet on the palate, and still some freshness of fruit, too, which has eluded so many of its peers. The result is a remarkably fine Port in which you can see the solar character of the vintage, but at the same time it also manages to meet the expectations drinkers might bring from having tasted other vintages. Lush, sweet, deeply textured, authoritative. It will still be going strong in 20 years. | 93

Richard Mayson: Deep, opaque, thin purple rim; unusual aromas, dark chocolate with a slight perfume overlying; firm berry fruit, firm tight-knit tannins rather overpower the fruit on the early part of the finish at this stage, but the finesse and freshness reemerges. Drink 2023–50. | 90