2024 Vintage Ports from the Fladgate Partnership
In line with tradition, the Fladgate Partnership (Taylor, Fonseca and Croft) declared their most recent Port vintage on St George’s Day (23rd April 2026). David Guimareans, head winemaker for all the houses in the Fladgate group, said that ‘we couldn’t have asked for better growth conditions than those of 2024’ noting the long warm summer and ‘cooler harvest period for long fermentations. This is a vintage of purity and poise – one that captures the enduring spirit of the Douro in its most refined form’.
I tasted these wines alongside João Vasconcelos, the director responsible for Fladgate Port sales in the UK. He explained that this is a very small declaration for the company with most of the vintage lotes emanating from properties in the Pinhão Valley where they were particularly happy with the quality of the wines in 2024. There is no breakdown of different varieties with most of the wines either field blends or co-fermentations of different grapes. They were all foot trodden on the stalks in lagar. Apart from Taylor’s (with a percentage from Vargellas) there is no wine from the Douro Superior and consequently no ‘hot fruit’ in the final blends. All these wines show the purity of fruit and precision which seems to be the hallmark of this lovely vintage. The wines are presented here in the order they were tasted.
Taylor’s Sentinels 2024 ****
The third consecutive vintage of this wine which is a blend from four properties in the Pinhão Valley: Terra Feita, Junco, Eira Velha and Casa Nova. 2,600 cases in total. Wonderful colour with a lovely, pure fragrant open aromas, there’s an leafy woodland fruit freshness about this wine with lovely pure berry fruit, great definition with tight-knit, spicy tannins building in the mouth and leading to a long, linear finish which retains a nervy green edge. This is not a big wine but it is precise and supremely elegant, such that it can be drunk with pleasure now. It should develop well over the medium term (15-20 years). 17.5
Taylor’s 2024 ****/*****
A blend from Terra Feita and Junco, Taylor’s main quintas in the Pinhão Valley, along with Quinta de Vargellas in the Douro Superior. 5,000 cases in total. Deep, opaque blue-black colour; open and aromatic like the Sentinels but with another dimension, ripe, floral, racy and airy (the first time that I think I have used these words to describe Vintage Port); rich and supple with vibrant yet beautifully defined berry and damson fruit backed by firm, fine-grained schistous tannins, not big in the scheme of things but so pure and precise with a long, grippy finish. This wine has outstanding finesse which you can appreciate and enjoy now but it has the balance and poise to last and last. 18.5
Croft 2024 ****
Based on Quinta da Roêda just upstream from Pinhão, just 1,600 cases declared in total. Deep youthful crimson and rather more demure on the nose (compared with the two Taylor wines above) with soft, seductive plummy fruit underlying as well as something slightly exotic; plump and opulent initially on the palate, verging on luscious with lovely plum, and damson fruit backed by soft, supple, ripe tannins leading to a long, firm linear finish, with a juicy jelly bean quality. Exuberant yet precise in style in common with most wines from 2024. Drink over the medium term. 17.5
Fonseca 2024 *****
A blend from Santo António and Cruzeiro in the Pinhão Valley with more fruit from Panascal downstream, 3,600 cases in total. Seemingly the deepest in colour of the Fladgate quartet combining perfume and glorious black fruit concentration on the nose (there’s a touch of dark chocolate here); similarly rich and profound on the palate, plummy fruit backed by firm, ripe sinewy tannins, almost explosive and beautifully structured, leading to a peacock’s tail of a finish that goes on and on. Still a little stern and raw, this is a wow of a wine (I wrote ‘wow’ twice in my notes) that combines the purity and finesse that is the hallmark of 2024 with power and depth. This will be a long-term keeper. 19.5
