I had the good fortune to be able to taste a range of Rozès Ports earlier this year and was stunned at the consistency across the board, and with the generosity and persistence of the finish of the wines. My tasting covered the White, Tawny, Ruby, 10 Year Old Tawny “Infanta Isabel” and the 2017 LBV.
The quality of the entry level wines is outstanding, so much so that there was a debate in our house as to whether we preferred the Tawny over the 10 Years Old – how nice to have two wines made in such different styles where both are excellent. I also noticed that the Ruby Port seemed to vanish very quickly from the bottle once the tasting was over. Clearly our house can recommend both these wines for current consumption!
One other point was clear; the bottles tasted were filled in 2022 but tasted in 2024. The extra two years of bottle age sat very comfortably on the wines, giving them a richness and roundness that was very enjoyable. Don’t be afraid to leave these bottles in a cool dark place if you don’t want to drink them straight away.
Finding Rozès Ports has become much easier this year thanks to Sainsbury, who now offer the Tawny (£12 with a nectar card) and LBV (£16) and to Ocado, who offer the Tawny (£16), 10YO (£30.50), White (£18.50), Ruby (£20), LBV (£21) and currently the 2012 Vintage (£47.50).
- Rozès White
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75cl. Opened and poured. Golden orange colour, 10% opaque. Sweet apricot jam on the nose, with an attractive floral overtone. Sweet canned apricots on the palate, nicely balanced but with a metallic tone you would find in canned fruit that is a little off putting in a wine. Good acidity matches the honey on the palate and aftertaste and drives a pleasing dryness on the finish. Good length. A nice wine, more in the sweeter lagríma style than in the dry white mould, but a glass or two is rather pleasant. 84/100.
- Rozès Tawny
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75cl. Opened and tasted. Deep red with a hint of brick. Very little on the nose, perhaps a little pot pourri. More expressive on the palate with some dried and baked fruit, particularly on the mid-palate. Gentle tannins provide a bit of structure, the acidity keeps the wine clean and the palate fresh. Nicely balanced, much less overtly sweet than the Rozès White tasted previously. Good, persistent sweet berry finish. One or two years of bottle age have given this wine a lovely roundness. Rather nice, certainly a very pleasant way to round off a meal. 86/100.
- Infante Isabel 10YO
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Bottled in 75cl in 2021. Opened and tasted. Brick red colour, 80% opaque. Toffee and bruised apple on the faint nose. A lovely slightly thickened texture on entry, round and smooth across the palate. The dried vine fruit, caramel and ripe berry reduction spreads slowly across the palate. The acidity only really shows on the aftertaste as a wave of flavour bursting across the tongue. This quickly settles into a warm caramel and redcurrant finish. Having tasted the White, Tawny and 10 YO side by side it is very clear that Rozès Ports are made to have a very long finish. Impressive and delicious. 88/100.
- Rozès Ruby
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Opened and tasted immediately. Believed from the bottling code to have been bottled in 2022. Dark red, 99% opaque. Fresh red cherry on the nose, promisingly fruity. Nicely constructed palate. The promised fruit is there, but is elegant and refined with delicate tannins leading the change of the dominant fruit from cherry to plum on the late palate. Some delicious red seltzer acidity on the aftertaste, which doesn’t actually fizz but tricks the tongue. As seems to be the norm with Rozés’s Port, the finish is impressively long. This is a very good Ruby Port with finesse on the palate and great density and persistence on the finish. The extra couple of years of bottle age have really helped this wine to fill out. A lovely glass of Port. 87/100.
- LBV 2017
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No bottling date given on the label but believed bottled in 2022, bottled unfiltered and made in a manner which meets vegan standards. Decanted for 30 minutes off a small amount of fine sediment before tasting.
Dark red with a hint of brick in the tone on the medium rim. An amazing aroma of dark cherries and cherry menthol cough sweets exploded from the bottle as the wine was being decanted, but this has settled in the glass to a spicy cherry and blueberry combination. Smooth on the palate, a little reluctant at first to deliver, the fruit builds slowly on the palate. Impressively tannic for an LBV, the base wine must have been quite brutal when first put in wood. Now on the palate the wine has an acidic intensity which is matched by generous tannins and a core of dark cherry. There is so much complexity of flavour on the aftertaste! Which finally decides to settle down to a menthol and black liquorice. This is delicious; big but balanced and with plenty of potential to age and develop in bottle. I would love to have the chance to try this again in 5-10 years. 89/100.