Simon Field | Raven black/purple; eggplant/onyx; deep and almost fluorescent. An appealing nose of wild strawberry, raspberry, fig, and coal dust. Then fierce tannins and heady spirit, seemingly well matched; more of a standoff at the moment than a pas de deux. The finish is pleasingly enigmatic, for all the ripe fruit at its core. 95

Andrew Jefford | Midnight black out to a purple rim, as is typical for this vintage. This Port has relatively bright, zesty, focused aromas, with lots of fresh- fruit lift: blackcurrant and damson, lemon and box. Exciting and enticing. This is sweet and long, with lots of tea-leaf enchantment: wonderfully pretty, engaging, almost floral (rose and violet) fruits. It has the usual massive heft of the ’17s, which is almost at odds with its style. Those tannins, though, and the floral notes provide exciting balance for the sweet, long, cannonball fruits. | 94

Richard Mayson | Fragrant, floral, and quite aromatic, a touch herbal, too. Fresh, firm, nicely defined minty- berry fruit, with some structure but not much depth mid-palate or on the finish. Mid-weight, middle distance. | 85