Van Zellers & Co Late Bottled Vintage Port 2016
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Van Zellers & Co. LBV Ports are produced with traditional and indigenous hand-picked red grapes grown in different sub-regions of the Douro. Bottled without any fining or filtration, Van Zellers & Co. 2016 LBV Port is a traditional unfiltered Late
Bottled Vintage, very deep ruby in color, floral nose, dark cherries, cassis, raspberries, cedar spice, velvety tannins. Elegant and smooth, Van Zellers & Co. LBV Port has a great balance and finesse and a very long and fruity finish.
Perfect to pair with chocolate desserts and cheeses, to be enjoyed slowly during dinner with friends.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Late Bottled Vintage Port is a field blend with 104 grams of residual sugar. It was bottled unfiltered in July 2020 with a long cork after 30 months in cask. Elegant and precise, this is a fine expression of an LBV with classic fruit but even better structure. This is a mini Vintage Port that still can improve. It should last over 20 years, and it will definitely improve and develop along the way.
Other Vintages
2015-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F.
The home of Port—perhaps the most internationally acclaimed beverage—the Douro region of Portugal is one of the world’s oldest delimited wine regions, established in 1756. The vineyards of the Douro, set on the slopes surrounding the Douro River (known as the Duero in Spain), are incredibly steep, necessitating the use of terracing and thus, manual vineyard management as well as harvesting. The Douro's best sites, rare outcroppings of Cambrian schist, are reserved for vineyards that yield high quality Port.
While more than 100 indigenous varieties are approved for wine production in the Douro, there are five primary grapes that make up most Port and the region's excellent, though less known, red table wines. Touriga Nacional is the finest of these, prized for its deep color, tannins and floral aromatics. Tinta Roriz (Spain's Tempranillo) adds bright acidity and red fruit flavors. Touriga Franca shows great persistence of fruit and Tinta Barroca helps round out the blend with its supple texture. Tinta Cão, a fine but low-yielding variety, is now rarely planted but still highly valued for its ability to produce excellent, complex wines.
White wines, generally crisp, mineral-driven blends of Arinto, Viosinho, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina and an assortment of other rare but local varieties, are produced in small quantities but worth noting.
With hot summers and cool, wet winters, the Duoro has a maritime climate.