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Superb aromas of toffee, coffee, prunes and lemons follow through to a full body, very sweet flavors of dried fruit, custard tart, butterscotch and more toffee. A joy to taste. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 98 JSAn impressive, balanced wine from master winemaker Dirk van Niepoort. Chocolate and licorice flavors dominate the fruit, giving a wine that has weight, complexity and at the same time elegance. The tannins offer a dense, dry structure. It is tight, solid and certainly for aging.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEVery enticing aromas of violet, blueberry and sandalwood follow through to a full body, with medium sweetness, ultrarefined tannins and a very long finish. This just coats the mouth with fabulous fruit and supersilky tannins. Chewy, yet friendly and harmonious. So fine. Best after 2017. 2,200 cases made, 170 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 95 WSFrom vineyards in the Pinhão Valley and at Ferrão on the edge of the Douro Superior. Foot-trodden in lagar and bottled in 2018. Lovely brick-red colour with fresh summer and candied fruit aromas, plus a hint of savoury smokiness. Refreshing on the palate above all; soft seductive fruit with a vestige of tannin, good acidity leading to an elegant, seemingly dry (despite 107g/l residual sugar) and lingering finish.Decanter Magazine | 95 DECA step above is the 2007 Niepoort Vintage Port which delivers a superb bouquet of fruitcake, plum, incense, blueberry, and licorice. Elegant on the palate but with layers of rich, succulent fruit, this intense, smooth-textured, impeccably balanced wine will have a lengthy drinking window extending from 2017 to 2037. It is one of the stars of the vintage.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

The 2007 Sandeman Vintage Porto is much more primal and taciturn than the 2003: blackberry, juniper, licorice and cloves but all tightly constrained at the moment. The palate is well-balanced with succulent, ripe, spicy black fruit intermixed with touches of sea salt, marjoram, cloves and raisins. There is certainly very good depth to this 2007, perhaps more a sense of reserve than previous vintages, as if it is determined to hold back and reward those who cellar this for another 20 years. Very fine – a precursor to the 2011. Drink 2017-2040.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPThis has a great black color, with crushed blueberry and blackberry on the nose. Full-bodied and medium sweet, with chewy tannins and a slightly mouthpuckering finish. Not quite as impressive as I remember from barrel, but one of the best Vintage Ports from Sandeman in a long time. Best after 2017. 500 cases made, 300 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 91 WSAn immensely tannic wine, dark and solid. The fruit at this stage is less apparent, with the spirit and structure dominant. A wine to watch as it develops, and probably for aging.Wine Enthusiast | 90 WE

(Taylor-Fladgate) The 2007 Taylor-Fladgate is a beautiful synthesis of the inherent power of Taylors and uncompromising beauty of the 2007 vintage, and the combination is stunning. The refined, youthful and very complex nose offers up scents of cassis, black cherries, pepper, gentle tarry notes, woodsmoke, anise, soil and cedar. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and very light on its feet for a young Taylors, with great elegance and intensity on the attack, ripe, seamless tannins, and a huge spine of acidity that adds vibrancy to the fruit, purity to the soil expression and laser-like focus on the impeccable, long finish. This is a big boy that dances on the palate right from the outset, and is a remarkably stunning young bottle of Port. (Drink between 2035-2135).John Gilman | 97+ JGThis 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. Best after 2020.Wine Spectator | 96 WSEnticing violet and black currant aromas are followed by ripe plum and spice flavors. Maybe this isn’t the most powerful Taylor Fladgate vintage ever, but it is balanced, opulent, beautifully made, the tannins fine, layered, with exquisite final acidity.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEAt its best, this wine is a vibrant, huge young Porto knocking out all the others with its delicious power-a Master of the Universe wine. It’s a blast of schist, cherry, raspberry, pomegranate and black licorice, all held in a supple grip that slides down the throat just as slowly as the wine’s color slides down the side of the glass. At this stage, the score shows some restraint, the wine having gone into a funk after a day of air and becoming reduced and difficult, only to rebound the following day. Still, this demonstrates the potential to be one of the greatest Port wines David Guimaraens has made, coming from a balanced year with beauty rather than aggression in the tannin. It will be fascinating to compare this to the 2003 as the wines age over the next 50 years.Wine & Spirits | 95 W&SThe Taylor’s 2007 is in a rather odd phase at the moment, its sweet, marzipan-tinged bouquet tending to dominate the ripe black fruit. The palate is much more controlled, with very fine tannins, supremely well-judged acidity and a very elegant, composed finish that has more purity and poise than the Fonseca. I would give bottles another decade to allow the aromatics to calm down. Tasted May 2013.Robert Parker Neal Martin | 94+ RP-NMBright, deep ruby. Superripe but youthfully clenched aromas of kirsch, blueberry, black licorice, smoke and minerals. Densely packed, suave and thick; has the texture of liquid velvet but urgent minerality gives it outstanding energy and a light touch. Best today on the slow-building, firmly tannic, spicy, palate-staining finish, which shows more grip and thrust than the Vargellas. This gained in complexity and definition for upwards of 72 hours in the recorked bottle. The Vargellas is an outstanding site expression while this is a great blend-and likely to enjoy a slower evolution in bottle. As usual, this should be among the longest-lived wines of the vintage.Vinous Media | 94+ VM