94 Mark Squires - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2017 Marquês de Borba Reserva is a blend of 35% Aragonez, 30% Alicante Bouschet, 20% Trincadeira and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, all aged for 18 months in new French oak. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. This upper-level bottling is not produced every year. The best of this issue's submissions, this polished Reserva is more focused, more subtly concentrated and better structured, for the most part. For all of that, it seems surprisingly understated. It remains suave and impeccably balanced. It seems ready to roll. Three hours later, it's better. It's a wine you could drink today—if you must—but that will still be just fine in 2030 and a long way from dying even then. Ideally, it could use a couple of years to pull in some wood and acquire some complexity. This is the type of wine that doesn't hit you over the head, but that you'll always want to drink. I liked it more the longer I sat with it.