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I don’t drink much Messias. I only really know of this company as the supplier of the house Ports at the (in)famous Gordon’s wine bar in London. I’m afraid, though they have never really impressed me. I generally go for Madeira or Sherry when I am drinking there now.

I think this bottle came from one of VW&P’s mixed selections.

I love the design of the bottle: it has been “stenciled” (probably with a silk screen) in the old-fashioned way which we see far too rarely.

Oddly, there is no bottling date. The back label tells us, in Portuguese, that it may throw a sediment so perhaps it is unfiltered. The cork is driven but very short and stubby.

The colour is red, fading quite a lot to the edge. Simple fruit on the nose: cherries; some strawberries.

In the mouth, very soft and approachable. Hardly any tannins; limited acidity; some nice fruit although lacking a depth and complexity I might hope.

I am really surprised at how young this is compared to how old it looks: would have guessed it was at least 15-20 years old.

Date: 10th December 2022

Rated*: P-

http://jacob-head.com/port/records/tast ... s_2016_LBV

* A Note on Ratings

My rating system attempts to answer the question “is this a good Port?” one of three ways: N—No; P—Possibly; or C—Certainly. Ports generally are weighted slightly by their category. Therefore, a Ruby Port might receive a C rating for Certainly good which it might not were it to be a Vintage Port. I sometimes modify my rating with a plus or minus indicating that the Port is better or worse than might be expected for this category.

A company not known for excellent Ruby ports. Their tawnys are sometimes better. But very hit and miss. It’s a company who has good quinta locations but they just can’t seem to make really good ports. No idea why.

I do know it’s mostly a multi-family owned (think old quinta do Noval before AXA bought it) and they don’t always get along, so I’ve heard anyways. No clue if that plays into the quality or not.

I don’t know a huge amount about their firm. I know they make a lot of different types of table wines, including some non-Douro ones (e.g. Dão & Bairrada) but can’t remember what any of them are like, although I can remember seeing their name on the back of a bottle from time-to-time. Looking at their website, they have quite a lot of sparkling wine, too. Some of it isn’t particularly cheap: €19.80 for a bottle of sparkling Bairrada seems quite pricey to me, although most of their wines seem to be in the c.€10 range.

I wonder if the more expensive Ports are only a small part of their business? I have a feeling that I have seen their Ports more often in France than the UK: perhaps they concentrate on the basic whites / rubies / tawnies for the French market?

Not a brand I am striving to buy port from. Never had a Messias that wow'd me. Hard to find in my locale, but other parts of the States seem to sell it more commonly.

That was my impression before opening this bottle and it has stayed pretty much the same. However, there is nothing wrong with it as a Port and I am enjoying drinking it which is more than can be said for some cheaper LBVs.