“The 2015 Vinhas Velhas de Santa Maria (Quinta de Foz de Arouce), the newest vintage (there will be no 2014, a miserable year in the region), was in bottle but was not yet released as of this tasting. Sourced from vines more than 100 years old, it will be released at the end of 2017. It was aged for 12 months in new French barriques and comes in at 14% alcohol. This looks like a terrific 2015, elegant, refined and sophisticated, yet with good depth for the style and region, plus a fine, lingering finish. Perfectly balanced, this tightens on the finish and shows off its crisp edge, but there is fruit to counter the structure here, too. It needs a few years of cellaring to allow it to become more expressive, but it will drink surprisingly well young. You might even try it next year if you must—but it is a shame to waste the bottle. It will age well, too. It should be a perfect food wine, always sunny and understated but never getting lost in the shuffle. If it develops as well as I suspect, it might be entitled to an uptick. There were just 5,000 bottles produced.”