2012 Fonseca Guimaraens

The 2012 Guimaraens Vintage Port was bottled in 2014. It comes in at 103 grams per liter of residual sugar. Surprisingly powerful, this opens as a brooding Port. It isn't so appealing just now, admittedly, as the astringency comes to the fore pretty quickly and some heat is obvious early on. If it projects plenty of "serious Port" power rather well, it doesn't immediately project the concentrated fullness, say, of the Taylor, its sibling also reviewed this issue. Laced with rhubarbs and herbs, it seems a bit on the drier side, relatively speaking, and shows that occasional warmth on the finish. I gave this a couple of days in the fridge and it fleshed out, happily. This is the sleeper in the submissions from the Taylor Fladgate group this issue – least impressive on opening, but coming up on the inside track rather fast, at least with plenty of aeration. It probably has the most to prove in the cellar. Give this at least a decade in the cellar, at which point it should be showing better, although it may not be at peak.