2024 Port: What are the scores?

2024 is a great Port vintage. While much of winemaking Europe spent 2024 slogging through a rainy growing season, in Portugal's Douro Valley winemakers enjoyed near-perfect conditions. Cooler-than-average summer temperatures slowed down ripening and locked in acidity, and allowed grapes the long hang time ideal for full flavour development. A slow harvest period allowed growers to pick every vineyard at its optimal moment. Yields were ultimately low, but the quality of the Ports made was so high that every major Port house has released a 2024 vintage Port, making 2024 the first general Port declaration in 7 years.

When Uncorked tasted across the 2024s, we were seriously impressed by the finesse of the tannin management; these are not Ports that will need to be broached two generations from now, though they invariably have the power and depth to last so long.

They have also scored big on vinous.com, with Neal Martin giving some deservedly high scores. We've cherry picked the top 7 scorers: Graham's, Taylor's, Dow's, Fonseca, Capela, Stone Terraces and Naçional. 'I don't think there is another Vintage Port with as much precision as this Dow's', writes Neal, and Graham's has a 'mesmerising' completeness. Taylor's 'is a Vintage Port destined to give decades of drinking pleasure', and 2024 sees 'one of the greatest Fonseca releases in recent years'. Capela is a selection from centenarian vines at Quinta do Vesuvio, and Naçional gets its name because it comes from a field blend of vines on original, pre-phylloxera native rootstock, rather than the American rootstock that is used for most wines worldwide today. /NT