Vintage Port – The 2016 Declaration

BY NEAL MARTIN | JUNE 12, 2018

“My name is Neal Martin...and I love Vintage Port.”

There. I needed to get that out of the way. The first alcoholic beverage that I ever drank was not beer, cider or a sneaky ill-advised sip of Uncle Fred’s whisky stashed away at the back of the drinks cabinet. It was not even wine.

It was Port.

Banish thoughts of a young N.M. sipping a 1927 Taylor’s and passing the antique crystal decanter to the left in some oak-paneled room in his salubrious country pile. Rather, it was a glass of Ruby Port mixed with lemonade at Lorna’s 18th birthday party down the Hadleigh Suite in Leigh-on-Sea, probably with “Come On Eileen” blaring in the background. You might laugh. However, that momentous glass was the conduit through which I exited a teetotal childhood into a bibulous world that welcomed alcohol. From that first sip, I nurtured a penchant for Port. Since I began attaching words to wine, Port has been close to my heart.

Of course, one of the highlights of any year is the rare instance in which the major Port houses come together in unison around St. George’s Day to declare. Unlike Bordeaux, where you have barely recovered from the last primeur when the next one arrives, general Port declarations tend to arise approximately three times per decade, thereby avoiding fatigue. So, whilst the dazzling 2011 Vintage Ports remain fresh in my mind, the 2016s arrive at a time when I am ready for more.

The Dom Luís Bridge that spans the Douro, linking Porto with Vila Nova de Gaia where many of the Port Houses originally clustered.

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One of the highlights of any year is the rare instance in which the major Port houses come together in unison around St. George’s Day to declare. Unlike Bordeaux, where you have barely recovered from the last primeur when the next one arrives, general Port declarations tend to arise approximately three times per decade, thereby avoiding fatigue. So, whilst the dazzling 2011 Vintage Ports remain fresh in my mind, the 2016s arrive at a time when I am ready for more.