The 2019 Grande Reserva is mostly a 60/30 blend of Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, with 10% Touriga Franca, aged for 14 months in new French oak. It comes in at 14.8% alcohol. The Portal red blends have been lovely and succulent this year, wines everyone will enjoy, but they mostly also are a little soft, making me wonder if they have the wherewithal to age and improve. In the $22 price range, I might say, "Who cares?" That's not really part of my analysis in terms of whether I want to buy a red wine in that price range. At $60, that's another calculation. Here, too, there needs to be a bit more evidence of developmental abilities, but this is certainly the best structured of the red blends this issue. It has more firmness on the finish, while still seeming surprisingly soft for such a young, upper-level wine. That said, it certainly lingers more on the finish than its red-blend siblings this issue. It has some finesse and persistence to go with the big fruit. On the whole, this is a success. It needs to show more after cellaring to become a bigger one, but let's start here for the moment.

The 2016 Grande Reserva is mostly a 60/30 blend of Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, with 10% Touriga Franca, aged for 14 months in new French oak. It comes in at 14% alcohol. Despite lower alcohol, in perception, this adds extra concentration compared to the regular Reserva, plus more power. The tannins are rather ripe, though. The easygoing Reserva is ready now, but the Grande Reserva might benefit from a year or two in the cellar. Still, this is not a great Grande Reserva this issue. Like the Reserva, it is a bit understated. Also like the Reserva, it is wonderfully fresh and easy to drink with food, a very elegant wine. I'm not sure this does enough to justify the big price spike over the regular Reserva, but it is a better crafted wine. They may separate more with age. In that regard, this should hold reasonably well. It doesn't have a big tannic backbone, but the freshness may help it age gracefully.

The 2014 Grande Reserva, the first since the 2011 (and with a new label) is another example of how (surprisingly!) fine this vintage was for Portal. It is mostly a 60/30 blend of Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz, with 10% Touriga Franca, aged for 14 months in new French oak. It comes in at 15% alcohol. This does show in a somewhat drier and sterner fashion than some years—though typical for 2014s—but it has good concentration, wonderful structure and a tightly wound feel. The remaining issue is how well it will age and develop. Too tight and too tannic to approach now, it clearly needs a few years to come around. Will the mid-palate start to fall off? That's always a concern in wines from poor years that look great young, but this seems quite capable of aging well and improving over the next decade. This should hold nicely for a couple of decades, maybe more, but let's start here. If it does improve and develop, it might even be entitled to an uptick.

The 2011 Grande Reserva is a blend of Touriga Nacional (60%), Tinta Roriz (30%) and Touriga Franca (10%), aged for 14 months in new French oak. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. This was seen last year, but it is worth checking up on again as I wanted to see whether it would start settling down and becoming more expressive. It shows fine concentration, a big hit of oak that gradually gets absorbed and increasing power as it sits. It always had those things. More happily, it is beginning to show some complexity (it is now about two years more in bottle since first seen). The iron underneath is held in balance and it finishes intriguingly with dark, bittersweet fruit. This is still young, but it is approachable now. It will still improve with more cellaring.

The 2009 GRANDE RESERVA is 60% Touriga Nacional, 30% Tinta Roriz and 10% Touriga Franca, all aged in new French oak for 12 months. If the oak was too obvious on the first look, this wine is making it pretty clear now that it will pull itself together. Dense and concentrated, it is both full bodied and nicely structured, with the potential still for notable improvement in the cellar. It is quite unevolved and you would be well advised to hold it a few years. It will likely round into good form around 2015-2017. It should be a nice prize in time and may eventually deserve another uptick in score, becoming a contender for the best Grande Reserve Portal has made. There were 20,355 bottles produced. Drink 2014-2024. The Auru, Reserva and Grande Reserva verticals from 2009 on back were poured at the winery in Douro. The Reserva vertical showed improvement and then consistency, making this wine a really fine value point in the Portal lineup—although as time goes on the Grande Reservas overall certainly generally surpass them and age better, e.g., 2000 and 2003. Notes on wines omitted in the Reserva vertical (particularly the ‘04 and ‘08) are in the database. The Grande Reserva lineup had few surprises. The wines generally showed quite well and my winery notes and scores were pretty much in line with what was originally published and predicted. It is, however, good to confirm that the wines fulfilled their promise and developed well. The Auru vertical also demonstrated the winery’s improving skill. There can’t be much doubt that Portal is a serious player in Douro, competing well with most anyone. The only problem with Auru is the pricing. The wines are certainly pretty fine, but the question there does become whether it justifies the big price spike considering how good many of the “l(fā)esser” bottlings have become. The Grande Reservas have really become a sweet spot in the lineup, not that they are cheap. NOTE: I am not publishing a tasting note on the 2009 Auru as it was rather closed and needs to be reevaluated, but it certainly seemed to have at least 92-94 point potential. Note that the prices for the library wines were simply taken from the last releases. The older vintages may not in fact be readily available and thus prices may vary widely. Importer: M Imports, Coppell, TX; tel: (214) 505-0616.