Croft, Quinta da Roeda, Serikos 2017
Serikos means ‘silky’ in Greek, and this is Croft’s first super-premium vintage from the oldest vines on Quinta da Roêda, planted between 1889 and 1900 in the wake of phylloxera. Serikos is made exclusively from these so-called ‘cultural heritage plots’ and is deep and youthful with ripe but gentle mint fruit, also an herbal print with a touch of rose petals (but a touch of stewed plum also came out at other tastings); so sweet and juicy that the tannins are almost hidden in the palate, but they are definitely there, fine-grained with nice mint, herbal freshness in the middle of the palate and on to the mouth-watering fresh finish. Not very big, but very elegant in style. 18.5