1970 Maynard's Porto Colheita

Maynard's is a Port label owned by Barão de Vilar Vinhos, a relatively young firm founded in January 1996 from a stock of wines acquired by Fernando Luiz van Zeller and later passed down to his two sons. Despite the company's recent founding, its reputation rests on those inherited older reserves, which included rare single-harvest Colheitas dating back decades before the firm itself existed. Maynard's has since become known among collectors for offering access to these well-aged tawnies across a range of price points, this bottling among the oldest in that inheritance.

This Colheita comes from the 1970 harvest, a vintage noted for producing wines with a firm, tannic backbone even in Port's more oxidative styles. It is made from a traditional field blend of Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, and Tinto Cão. As with all true Colheitas, the wine spent its entire life slowly maturing in seasoned oak casks rather than in bottle, drawing out its deep, nutty, oxidative character over more than five decades before being bottled to order rather than on a fixed release schedule.

The wine shows a mahogany color with an amber, ruby-tinged rim, and a complex, intense nose layered with exotic wood, dried nuts, and a touch of volatile acidity that adds lift rather than fault. On the palate it is surprisingly light and elegant, with flavors of burnt caramel, sweet tobacco, and toasted walnut carrying through an exceptionally long and deep finish. Its delicate concentration pairs beautifully with aged Gouda, a plate of toasted pecans, or simply savored on its own after dinner.