Simon Field: A deep, resonant color, with a purple rim and an inscrutable core. A slightly medicinal aroma, herbs and aniseed, the fruit held in check, though far from absent. The palate is attractive, the buttress of acidity finely wrought, the tannins ripe yet persuasive, the fruit character poised and pure, the finish linear and evocative. A very good example from a good but not great vintage. The fact that the mid-palate has only medium- plus concentration does not undermine the potential here. | 90

Andrew Jefford: Saturated midnight-black-red. A slighter aromatic profile than some of the wines in the 2015 cohort, but very attractive: fine-grained blackcurrant perfumes, lifted, fresh, floaty, and poised. Tea-leaf scents bring freshness, too. Good heavens: Once again something very special here, rather like [Quinta do Noval 2014] in the previous vintage: creamy, pristine, pure, succulent, voluptuous, though this has “warmer” fruit in this vintage. The qualities of the wine are tripartite, as they were in [Quinta do Noval 2014]: pristine fruit, stunning aromatic complexity, and magnificently fine-burnished tannins. This is riper and hotter (maybe a minus), but overall “bigger” and riper. Super stuff. | 93

Richard Mayson: Deep, opaque, tight-knit, with a rather green, herbaceous overtone on the nose, hedgerow fruit; similar hedgerow character on the palate, a green edge to the rather hard tannins but with some flesh to offset this, then a hard, rather lean, finish. Perhaps a bit simple in this context. | 86