Quinta do Noval, Vintage Porto 2016

98 points James Suckling
This is a superb baby Noval that reminds me of the 1966. Chewy yet so polished. The light sweetness suggests an overall dialing back of the sugar content. Stemmy and lightly green. A truly classic Noval. Almost all from Pinhao. Buy.

98 points Wine Spectator
This is distinctive, with youthfully rambunctious dark currant, fig and blackberry fruit paste flavors liberally spiked with bramble, Turkish coffee and ganache notes. As the fruit pumps through the finish, a tarry spine adds a bristling, mouthwatering edge. Best from 2035 through 2055

97 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Vintage Port is a field blend, mostly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão and Sousão, aged for 18 months in old wood. It comes in with 82 grams of residual sugar. This was in bottle for only about seven weeks when seen, but I made sure at least some of it had a lot of air. It looks super, with plenty of room to grow in the cellar. Christian Seely likes to say that this regular Noval and the Nacional are not better than one another, just different. In fact, I usually prefer Nacional, but in this vintage I make a case for equality and endorse that view.

97 points Decanter
Dense but opening up on the nose to reveal dark chocolate intensity and a delicate leafy edge. Ripe and initially minty on the palate with lovely purity of fruit and great definition: sweet cassis with broad, ripe, grippy tannins rising in the mouth. Not as big or immediately impressive as some wines from this vintage but showing great balance and poise from start to finish. A wine for the long term. Production of 6,000 cases.

Jancis Robinson
"AXA's large, 148-ha historic property drawing on fruit from three different parcels mostly in Pinhão, including over the hill in the Roncão Valley with marked schist and a different mesoclimate plus one parcel overlooking the valley.
Very dark crimson. Rich and spicy on the nose. Juicy and succulent. A hint of something almost overripe. Heady and very definitely not uptight. Sort of sprawls all over the palate in a devil-may-care fashion. Lots of fun, though the tannins are by no means insistent. Oddly readable, but lots of fun. 18/20 points."