Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port

Smith Woodhouse is a structured Port house — firm and tannic, the slowest of the four builds to open and the longest-lived. PortDB records 4 Smith Woodhouse releases spanning 1977–2007. Across the set, 1 classic. Their windows open 1999–2029, with decline modelled from 2078–2102.

Style: Structured
Wines in PortDB: 4
Range: 1977–2007
Tiers: 1 classic · 3 very good
Named quintas: —
Windows open: 1999–2029

Every Smith Woodhouse vintage

Smith Woodhouse vintages recorded by PortDB, with type, quality tier, prime drinking window and a sourced note.
Year	Wine	Rating	Prime window	Note
2007	Vintage Port	Very good	2029–2067	Elegant 2007 from this Symington-owned house. Tastingbook / Wine-Searcher — Smith Woodhouse 2007 Vintage Port; Symington confirms 2007 as a 21st-century classic declaration
1994	Vintage Port	Very good	2016–2054	Excellent value 1994 with depth and structure. ThePortForum declaration thread + Tastingbook — Smith Woodhouse 1994 Vintage Port
1983	Vintage Port	Very good	2005–2043	Well-regarded 1983 declaration. ThePortForum 1983 Smith Woodhouse thread + Tastingbook listing
1977	Vintage Port	Classic	1999–2044	Classic, traditionally made 1977 of fine longevity. Jancis Robinson / Wine-Searcher — Smith Woodhouse 1977 Vintage Port

How Smith Woodhouse ages

The longest-lived style — firm, tannic and slow to reveal itself. Wines of this build need roughly 22 years to open and can hold well past 55. The years below are this house’s own bottlings, grouped by the tier of the vintage — a greater year is more concentrated and stretches the window. They are fixed for each wine; whether a bottle is ready today depends on the date and is answered by the maturity tool.

Classic · 1 wine: 1977 — windows open 1999, modelled to decline from 2079.
Very good · 3 wines: 1983, 1994, 2007 — windows open 2005–2029, modelled to decline from 2078–2102.

Houses that age like Smith Woodhouse

PortDB groups the 21 houses into four maturation styles. These share Smith Woodhouse’s, so their wines come round on a similar schedule.

Taylor's: 33 wines, 1960–2024 — legendary in 1963, 1977, 1994, 2011.
Dow's: 38 wines, 1963–2019 — legendary in 1963, 1966, 1970, 1977, 1994, 2007, 2011.
Quinta do Noval: 7 wines, 1931–2017 — legendary in 1931, 1963, 1994, 2011.
Quinta do Vesuvio: 5 wines, 1994–2017 — legendary in 2011.
Niepoort: 4 wines, 1945–2011 — legendary in 1945.
Churchill's: 4 wines, 1985–2011.

Compare all 21 on the Port houses, see every year rated on the Port vintage chart, or read the greatest years ranked in best years for Port.

Common questions about Smith Woodhouse Port

Is Smith Woodhouse a good Port house?

By PortDB's tiers, yes. Smith Woodhouse has 1 classic vintage among the 4 PortDB records, across 1977–2007. Those tiers reflect critic consensus and are a matter of editorial judgement, not a measurement; which years the house declared is public record. The dataset is also not exhaustive — it holds what has been verified against primary sources, so a missing year means no verified record here, not no wine.

Which Smith Woodhouse vintage should you buy?

PortDB does not rank wines, but it does record a tier for each. The Smith Woodhouse vintage it rates classic is 1977. Each year's page lists every house that declared it, so you can see what Smith Woodhouse was up against. They span 1977, so their windows sit decades apart — “best” and “ready” are different questions, and the window on each row above answers the second one.

How long does Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port last?

Smith Woodhouse's wines are modelled on the structured maturation style, which opens around 22 years after the vintage and holds a prime to about 55, stretched by the strength of the vintage. Across the 4 wines listed above that works out at windows opening 1999–2029 and decline modelled from 2078–2102. To place a specific bottle against today's date, name the house and year in the maturity tool. These are modelled windows, not measurements: storage and bottle variation move the goalposts.