The Times

After tasting 53 2003 Vintage Ports, JANE MacQUITTY's hunch on 'these densely coloured, hugely aromatic, seductively sweet, black and red berry-laden Ports is that they have a shade less grip and acidity than most Vintage Ports need for a long 20- or 25-year evolution, putting the 2003s on the next rung down from great'. Her favourites were: 'the massive beefy Warre's; the luscious, rose-scented Graham's; Taylor's perfumed floral charmer; Fonseca's raisiny persistence; the sweet, plummy Quinta do Vale D Maria; plus the concentrated plummy Noval and its almost as impressive second wine, Silval.'