1983 Quarles Harris Vintage Port

[Todd Pettinger]

Quarles Harris Vintage Port – 1983
A light, feminine style VP. The instant the bottle was opened there was a delicious aroma of cherries, strawberries and raspberries released. The cork crumbled upon opening and I had to extract the lower quarter of it from the neck of the bottle with a small, thin knife blade.

A light garnet colour with signs of medium aging, the edges were bricking and the meniscus was clear with quick-running tears when the glass was swirled.

The palate was dominated by light maraschino cherries, with some raspberries and strawberries as supporting flavours. A thin mouthfeel completed the supporting evidence that this is a lower-tier producer, not a blockbuster by any means, but nice. Some spicy zip was noted after a few hours of decanting (white pepper perhaps.)

Some acidity was noted initially which gave a bit of indigestion later on in the evening, but this is typical for me with ports and wines that have higher levels of acidity. The next day, the acidity and spice were the more prevalent notes in the wine, but it did stand up okay as an accompaniment to BarBQed lamb with herbed garlic rub.

I would buy this Port again but would only do so for shorter term drinking as I got the impression that this may be at or nearing its best. 25 years for a lower tier VP is pretty decent. Because it has the words “Vintage” and “Port” together on the label and last I checked, I was still in Canada, this VP is probably a bit over-priced at $70Cdn, so I would choose a lot of other bottles over this one.

Final verdict: not a blockbuster, but not too shabby.

86 pts
Todd

[Roy Hersh]

Great eval Todd. Agreed on the score, but also about the value for money at that price. Two years ago, you could have bought 1985 Fonseca for that price.