Croft Vintage Port 2016 / 750 ml.

Very expressive, this unfurls with mouthwatering licorice snap, fruitcake, apple wood and violet notes, which are quickly followed by a wave of mouthfilling plum, blackberry and fig paste flavors. This is packed but well-defined, and the energy allows the fruit to ripple through the long finish. Built for the long haul, with distinctly dry cut at the end. Best from 2035 through 2055. 3,000 cases made.

Extremely perfumed with dark-berry and currant aromas. Hints of earth and spices. Full-bodied, round and medium sweet. Hints of resin. Opulent yet restrained. Shows ripe and beautiful fruit with clarity. Try in 2025.

Juicy, luscious and with excellent ripe fruit, this is a balanced wine with a fine future. Its tannins are almost sweet to match the sweetness of the berry fruits. As it ages, this will be a lovely wine. Drink from 2027.

The 2016 Croft Vintage Port has a taut bouquet at first that demands a good 20 or 30 minutes to get into its stride. It eventually reveals scents of blackberry, bilberry, chimney soot, clove, and just a hint of scorched earth in the background. The palate is spicy and vivacious on the entry: black fruit, clove, white pepper and curry powder (almost like a Balti!) I love the personality imbued into this Croft, a Vintage Port that seems to be wearing its heart on its sleeve. Excellent. Production is 3,050 cases.

The 2016 Vintage Port is a field blend that was set to be bottled about a week after this tasting. It was the final blend, aged for 20 months in wood. It comes in with 104 grams of residual sugar. Tight, powerful and very intense, this is a big boy with the firmness you expect from fine Vintage Port, although the Fonseca is even more powerful. Showing good concentration and a fresh, lifted finish too, this is impressive at the outset. Initially, I was wowed by this. A few more tastes with more air made me think I’d like to see it prove some things in the cellar. It’s not hot, but it seems a bit more alcoholic than its Fonseca and Taylor siblings. Still, there’s a long way to go before making a final call. As noted, this is very tight, not nearly as approachable as many 2016s are in this relatively restrained year. It won’t sear your mouth with tannins — they are not TOO hard — but you are going to have to cellar it a while to allow it to acquire more complexity and more harmony. I’m not quite convinced this will ever become as attractive as Taylor and Fonseca in this vintage, though.