Michael Schuster: Dark, brick-edged black/red; fine, rich, restrained nose, still youthful and slightly raw, but a dense, very complex and persistent blend of ripe black fruit, licorice, and minerals, promising a great bouquet; rich, beautifully balanced, elegant, compact middleweight wine, defined by a fine, firm yet velvety tannin; very sweet, very long in the mouth, gently sonorous, mouth-coating wine; peppery, firm, authoritative, great length across the palate, and with a lovely persistence of sweet black fruit and mineral and pepper aromas. The typical austerity of bearing of Vargellas, but a wonderful completeness, too. A great expression of the Vargellas old vines. Like a declared Vintage Port, this needs two decades in bottle, ideally. But it has such a wealth of fruit that, decanted a day in advance, it will already give huge pleasure. Best from 2015–30. Remarkable single-quinta Port (January 2009). 19