Event: Berry Brothers Christmas Port Walkaround Tasting

[Al B.]

Every year Berry's organise a walkaround tasting where you can sample a number of different ports. This year there were 20 ports on show and I took notes of 13 of them but did not take notes on the ruby blends, tawnies, LBVs or the VPs that I had tasted in the last couple of months. (Time is always a precious commodity at these events and I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to try some wines that I have not seen for a while.) It was also nice to see some young wines, from the 2003 vintage.

My notes (in alphabetical order) are below and I would welcome additional comments or observations from anyone else who attended. Note that the scores I give the wines are for their immediate drinking pleasure and do not try to anticipate how they will taste in the future. Nor do they try to compensate for the amount of time the wines had been decanted. All decanting times are estimates based on the approximate time the wines were decanted and the approximate time I tasted the wines.

Enjoy,

Alex

Berry Brothers (Warre) 1997 1 hour
Youthful red, opaque centre. Young blackcurrant nose. Sweet and fruity entry followed immediately by dominating dry tannins. Lots of mid-palate fruit but the flavours fade quickly once swallowed. A perfectly respectable wine. 87

Berry Brothers (de la Rosa) 2003 4½ hours
Deep and opaque red colour. Attractive nose of blackcurrants. Harshly acidic into the mouth - although the fruit is present the wine is not in balance. Aftertaste is short. Not an attractive wine to my taste at this showing. 82

Cockburn 1994 1½ hours.
Paling colour, clear at the rim but with no browning. Nose strongly dominated by VA. Sweet into the mouth but the VA taint dominated and the characteristic prickling on the tongue of a bad wine could not be ignored. NR

Dow 1983 2 hours
Pale rim, slightly browning, darker centre. Nose of mint and alcohol with a little fruit. Dry entry, a quick show of fruit and then the dry tannins take control. The palate develops into a lovely fruity-liquorice midpalate flavour that fills the mouth well. This wine slides down so smoothly and leaves the tongue tingling gently and the liquorice flavour slowly fading away. A wine that is very impressive once you get past the initial alcohol-dominated nose. 92

Fonseca 1985 2 hours
Deep centre, light rim but a very clear and attractive colour. Nose very closed. Sweet into the mouth with soft toffee flavours and a strawberry syrup tone. Still quite tannic with a lovely spicy midpalate and many layers of flavour. A wine to be sipped and savoured. An initial burn on swallowing then a strawberry glow and a spicy tingle to the mouth that lasts a long time. Pleasant, enjoyable, but not a masterpiece. 86

Grahams 1970 2 hours
Pale colour, orange rim. Sweet ripe plums and brown sugar on the nose. Sweet entry, leather and cedar wood with a very sweet tone of liquorice and plums. Superb Christmas cake mid-palate, thick and unctuous, getting thicker the longer you hold it in the mouth. Tannins have gone but the wine is still very well focussed and structured. Aftertaste is rich, fruity and wonderfully smooth. This is a superb wine and although the aftertaste fades quickly, it does not vanish completely for some time. This was the wine of the night for me. 95

Grahams 2003 4½ hours
Deep and intense youthful colour. Very full nose of ripe, sweet blackcurrants. Sweet into the mouth, full of pure ribena. Tannic, but balanced with a strong acidic backbone. Modest length aftertaste dominated by fruit but relatively short. A great wine if you want to drink a young fruit-bomb of a port. 92

Noval 2003 4½ hours
Opaque and purple. Lifted nose of blackcurrants and mint. Dry entry, tannic and acidic impact but the fruit comes flooding through on the mid-palate. Aftertaste is pleasant, fruity and of long length. If I had to drink either the Grahams or the Noval now, I'd go for the Grahams 2003. 91

Ramos Pinto 1997 1 hour
My first Ramos Pinto and what an unexpected pleasure - this was the surprise of the night for me. An attractive glowing deep rose colour. A delicate nose of blackcurrants and vanilla. Lovely balanced entry, fruit initially around a focussed but soft acidity. Good development of fruit in the midpalate with the tannins almost hidden. Aftertaste is good, long and delicious. A delicate and expressive wine - not a blockbuster but a wonderful wine very much in a feminine style. 92

Roeda 1997 1 hour
Deep red, strongly extracted. Strong scent of blackcurrants and blackberries. Empty entry but flavours develop in the midpalate. Very acidic but complexity of red fruits and citrus flavours is enjoyable. Tannins dominate the initial aftertaste but decay into a long and chocolately aftertaste. 85

Rosa (Quinta de la) 1996 1½ hours
Mid red colour, light appearance for a '96. Nose is very closed and faint. Into the mouth it takes a while to develop. Very tannic with insufficient fruit to counteract the tannins until well into the mid-palate. Tannins never really give up - I can't decide whether time will soften the tannins faster than the fruit will fade but this wine does further strengthen my theory that the '96 are shutting down. This is not a balanced wine at present and showed poorly today. 86

Taylors 1977 2 hours
Beautiful clarity, paling centre and a brown hint on the rim. Nose of caramel and raspberries. Lovely sweet entry but a touch of bitterness on the midpalate. Red fruit flavours are supported by the density of the wine and by the sweetness but there is not much midpalate development. However, the afteraste is absolutely astonishing - a huge and everlasting rainbow of flavours that runs from ripe raspberries with chocolate sauce to an astonishing vanilla ice-cream. The incredible aftertaste gained this wine an extra couple of points from where it would have been rated otherwise. For some this was the wine of the night. 90

Warre 1963 2 hours
Pale and delicate in appearance, clear rim and showing signs of age. Sweet fruit cake on the nose, with chestnuts and eucalyptus. Sweet entry, bringing raisins and soft syrup. Mid palate develops some nice red fruits over the top of the fruit cake. The aftertaste is a touch hot to start, leaving tingling cheeks before fading to a lovely choclately length. Disappointingly, I felt that the mid-palate of this wine lacked something and was too simple to regard this as a top flight wine. 92