RAMOS PINTO Vintage Port 2017 Quinta de Ervamoira

"The 2017 Vintage Port Quinta da Ervamoira (in Douro Superior) is another Port from Ramos Pinto in this vintage that is Touriga Nacional-dominated—60% of the blend. The rest is Touriga Franca (15%), Sousão (10%), Tinta Barroca (10%) and Tinto Cão (5%). It comes in with 98 grams of sugar. This is another of those Single Quinta Ports that is not really intended as a downgrade over the regular Vintage Port. Rather, it is just a different expression of terroir—and it is actually pricier than the regular Vintage Port that Ramos Pinto also made in 2017. When I first saw this as a tank sample in Porto last June, it seemed super, and I preferred it to the regular Vintage Port. (That's a little less clear today, by the way, as they have swapped places—by a little.) It's now bottled and in the USA. A defining feature of this elegant Port is always going to be the powerful aromatics, mint, eucalyptus, cistus and so on. It is all about the personality. There isn't a lot of fleshiness. It is not as rich as the regular Vintage Port, but it may have more precision, intensity and focus, as well as more personality. It showed a little more grip on the finish after a couple of days open. In the mid-palate, there is considerable finesse and no jamminess. Then, there's the big finish with some notable grip from tannins. All the while, it is fresh and lifted. A couple of days later, it was drinking pretty well. If it is not quite as rich as the regular Vintage Port, it often seems a brighter and livelier one, as well as a delicious one. This should be approachable fairly young and then hold well for a few decades or more without a problem. For the moment, as noted, I think this has swapped places with the Vintage Port—as I had a slight preference for that this time around. The styles will be more important than any perceived qualitative issue, no matter what."