Vintage Port 2000 and 2003: panel tasting results

Richard Mayson, Shane Jones and Demetri Walters MW tasted 24 wines, with 7 Outstanding and 10 Highly recommended.

Vintage Port 2000 and 2003 panel tasting scores

24 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 7

Highly recommended 10

Recommended 4

Commended 1

Fair 1

Poor 1

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their single vintage Ports from 2000 and 2003, including single quinta bottlings but not colheita

As a rule of thumb, 21 years marks the coming of age for both an adult and for a vintage Port. So it was with great interest that we revisited two millennial vintages potentially on the cusp of adulthood and maturity.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the vintage Port 2000 and 2003 panel tasting

At the outset, 2000 and 2003 were very different years in the Douro. Cool and wet weather early in the 2000 growing season led to a low-yielding vintage, especially in the leading A-grade vineyards that are the basis for vintage Port.

The summer was hot and dry – though not unduly so – and picking took place in perfect sunshine. Yields of little more than 0.5kg per vine produced musts of great richness and concentration. For Graham’s, it was a landmark vintage as it was the first in which about a third of the wine was made in what were, at the time, new-fangled robotic lagares (large, flat open tanks equipped with mechanical ‘treaders’ for crushing the grapes).

By contrast, 2003 was marked by a very hot summer. The first blast of heat came in mid-June and the thermometer rose above 40°C on a daily basis from late July though to mid-August (even the nights remained abnormally warm). Fortunately, the wet winter that came before meant there was plenty of groundwater, and ripening, though hampered by the heat, was fairly even. Some sugar readings were extraordinarily high by mid-September. The heat continued through the early part of the 2003 harvest and fermentations needed to be very carefully managed. For Croft, having recently been acquired by Taylor Fonseca, this was the first harvest since 1963 to be foot-trodden.

These contrasting conditions were fully displayed in this tasting. The 2000s (average score 92.5pts) showed definition and poise, with the best wines only just ready to drink and promising a long life ahead. Shane Jones thought 2000 was ‘the star of the show… with concentration and freshness from more balanced acidity’. Demetri Walters MW felt that both years were ‘bold, vivid and full of personality’ but described the 2000s as ‘altogether more contained, backward, grippy, fresher in acidity and fruit character’.

All members of the panel remarked on the ripeness (verging on overripeness) of the 2003s (average score 89pts). Too many wines were ‘stewed’, ‘cooked’ or ‘soupy’, lacking the poise (at least at this stage) of the 2000s. ‘Jammy’ was my verdict on many of the 2003s. As a result, we all felt that the 2000s were the wines that were going to last the course (beyond 2050 for the best). Walters concluded: ‘In absolute quality and longevity, the 2000s have it.’

But 2003 is not in any way a year to be written off – as the scores here show. There are those (including the Port shippers themselves) who favour a hot year: ‘Harder to make and, like all hot years, take much longer to come around,’ in the words of David Guimaraens, head winemaker for The Fladgate Partnership, producer of Taylor’s, Fonseca, Croft and Krohn. That may apply to the very best of the 2003s but, as things stand, the 2000s are the wines that will give the most pleasure.

Vintage Port 2000 and 2003 panel tasting scores

The judges

Richard Mayson is the DWWA Regional Chair for Port & Madeira and series editor of the Infinite Ideas Classic Wine Library. The 4th edition of his book Port and the Douro was published in 2018 (£35) and the 5th edition is due out in 2023. Find his work at richardmayson.com.

Shane Jones is an independent wine and sake educator, certified by the WSET and Sake Sommelier Association. A DWWA judge for Port & Madeira, he is based in London but teaches around the UK, as well as in France and Germany.

Demetri Walters MW is an independent wine consultant, educator, online and TV presenter and judge. He formerly worked over 18 years in varying roles for merchant Berry Bros & Rudd, and became a Master of Wine in 2013. He publishes his own website demetriwalterswine.com.

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