1 | Wine | Fortified, $50 to $100

"A blackstrap, powerful Port. Black, with intense aromas of raspberries, raisins, flowers and stems. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with a long, rich finish. Tannins pull at your palate."

"This is a giant of a wine lurking behind fresh flowers and ripe fruit. Starts off in a friendly way, then takes hold of the palate, with intense blueberry and blackberry fruit and chewy yet fine tannins. Mouthpuckering, but impressively complex and long. Really kicks in on the finish. The best Taylor since 1994."

"Cooked raspberry, with hints of lemon peel and leaf. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with a beautiful density and a sweet fruity and tannic aftertaste. Balanced yet muscular." 92-95 pts.

"Complex aromas of toffee, roasted nuts, lead pencil, orange peel and caraway seed. Intensely flavored fruit is silky but nicely delineated; offers a fresh flavor of orange peel. Not at all thick, but brisk and vibrant. Finishes clean and long, with hints of smoked nuts and marzipan." Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer.

"Graham's 1991 Vintage Port gets my nod as the port of the vintage. While keeping in mind that Graham's aims for a sweeter-styled port, there is no doubting the opaque purple/black color, or the explosive nose of black fruits, licorice, spring flowers, and tar. Thick and full-bodied, with a satiny texture and a blockbuster, alcoholic finish, this is a top-notch vintage port."

"Violets, roses, spices, and candied dark fruits. ...emanate from the glass of the murky black/purple colored 2003 Graham Vintage Port. After four days of air, this wine’s aromatics sweetened further, displaying jammy blackberry and blueberry scents. Bold, full-bodied, and expansive, the Graham benefited the most from extensive contact with air of all the 2003s tasted for this report. This opulently jammy wine assaults the palate with powerful yet soft layers of oily, candied red fruits as well as notes of tar and hints of mocha. A highly concentrated effort, it is creamy textured, suave, and reveals an admirably long finish filled with additional layers of dark fruits intermingled with spices."

"There's plenty of blueberry and raspberry in this young Vintage Port. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with chewy tannins and a medium finish. Chunky and a little awkward now. But the structure is very good to excellent." 89-92 pts.

"The 2003 Fonseca Vintage Port exhibits a nose of profound depth. Its sweet black mass of dark fruit and spice aromas leads to a character of immense depth, richness, and weight. Full-bodied, viscous, and almost impenetrable, this dense, backward port is powerful and exceptionally long in the finish. Possibly the most masculine Fonseca I’ve ever encountered, it coats the taster’s palate with licorice, jammy black fruits, and notes of chocolate that last for over a minute."

"This is always outstanding. Attractive aromas of egg yolks, caramel and light honey. Full-bodied, with a rich palate of honey and butterscotch, with just a hint of nuts. Goes on and on."

"Amazingly rich and honeyed with hints of figs, prunes, caramel, and toffee, it is a gorgeous, brilliantly made fortified wine composed of Shiraz and Mourvedre. This brilliant fortified is remarkably light on its feet given its massive richness. Thank good winemaking, great natural extract, and zesty acidity for keeping this wine fresh in spite of its huge residual sweetness and power."