Graham's The Stone Terraces Vintage Port 2016/2027

Graham's The Stone Terraces Vintage Port is one of the century's most exclusive and acclaimed Ports, made only in years of exceptional quality. This is the fourth historic release of this particular wine, made from two unique plots totalling under 3 hectares at the prestigious Quinta dos Malvedos.

The Wine Advocate
RP 99

Reviewed by: Mark Squires

Drinking Window: 2035 – 2085

The 2017 The Stone Terraces Vintage Port, from a specific plot and mostly Touriga Nacional, has 117 grams of residual sugar. It was bottled about a month before this tasting, after 18 months in used oak vats. However, the sample tasted was still pre-bottling, as the bottled version wasn't yet ready for review.

The first impression was relatively discreet. A second tasting, however, revealed a silky-textured wine with extraordinary power. Despite the elegance on the mid-palate, its structure is markedly classic, very traditional in profile. It isn't jammy; on the contrary, it impresses with its exceptional concentration.

What seems to be missing at this stage is a more open expression of fruit. The wine is clearly in a very closed phase aromatically. Although it already shows huge quality, it's very closed and should develop remarkably with time. The high score rests mainly on its concentration and power, while the fruit is less evident than, for example, in the more delicate 2016 at the same age.

The depth and structure are truly impressive and, knowing this wine's exuberant profile, it's almost certain the fruit will come to the fore with years in bottle. Everything suggests it could prove the best of the 2015–2016–2017 trilogy. For now, it's a wine to follow in the cellar and let it prove its true potential. It very probably will, as this powerful 2017 has practically limitless potential. It's the Vintage worth betting on. In a year full of extraordinary wines, it clearly deserves to be on the list of contenders for "Wine of the Vintage". It's not yet at the very top of the critic's preferences, but it will certainly be one of the essential wines to compare in a decade.

According to Charles Symington, this may be the best Port he has ever made, although it doesn't yet show its full dimension today. Even so, it already shows impressive qualities. Just one warning: anyone without the patience or conditions to cellar it for many years will hardly be able to enjoy all this wine has to offer. Production was limited to 600 cases.

The 2017 Vintage declaration came from very low yields, about a third lower than in 2016. This year also marked, across the Symington family's range, the first consecutive Vintage declaration in the family's history. As the critic had already argued in his article on the 2015 Vintages, this practice makes perfect sense and shouldn't be considered exceptional among Port producers.

As an additional note, this tasting included a small vertical of The Stone Terraces, a Port that has achieved true cult status among enthusiasts. It's a field blend, though heavily dominated by Touriga Nacional, from two stone-terraced vineyards at Graham's Quinta dos Malvedos.

Published: 11 July 2019

The review by Roger Voss for Wine Enthusiast, awarded the maximum score of 100 points, portrays a Vintage Port of exceptional depth and longevity. On the nose and palate it shows impressive concentration of ripe black fruit, supported by powerful structure and firm, still very young tannins that point to extraordinary ageing capacity in bottle. Despite its richness and intensity, it keeps remarkable freshness from vibrant acidity, giving balance and precision. A wine of enormous class, made to age for decades, at its best from 2029.