1985 Delaforce Vintage Port

[Al B.]

This was a glass bought in a Davy's wine bar in London. The decanting time isn't know but these wine bars tend to have a reasonable turnover in VP and the glass came from a 2/3rds empty bottle - so I would estimate 2-3 days.

Colour was a deep ruby red. Held up to a light the wine almost appeared to glow - a very vibrant colour. No fading that I could see on the rim and no bricking or hint of browning. Long viscous legs showing the alcohol in the wine.

On the nose was a dusty edge that I have always found with this wine. Its a very unusual small - like a book that hasn't been moved for ages and then someone comes along and blows all the dust off. If I hadn't had this wine on many different occasions I would have been worried by the small. Underneath the dust comes the fruit, reminds me of baked strawberries and liquer cherries. The alcohol is there but is in balance.

In the mouth the dusty small turns into a dusty edge to the flavour ... but hold the wine in your mouth for a moment or two and that dusty edge morphs into a peppery attack that reminds me of a great shiraz when very young. The pepper is supported by sweetness and acidity to give a well balance mouth-feel. warm and sweet with cherries and chocolate - think Ben N Jerry's "Cherry Garcia" ice cream - but with fresh ground whiet pepper and sugar puffs (pop corn made from rice and then coated in lightly caramelised sugar) on top. The wine had suprising length for a "second tier" producer and was dominated by coffee tones.

In all, this is an enjoyable wine, but lacks great complexity. I'm not sure if it will improve much, but maybe it will. Today its a simple and enjoyable drink that lacks the "wow" factor to make it something special - call it good everyday port. 87/100.

[Jason Brandt Lewis]

I anticipate much better from Delaforce now that the Taylor-
Fonseca owns it . . . .

[Al B.]

This is a tasting note from a bottle purchased in the UK from CostCo about 2 weeks ago and opened yesterday.

Beautiful aroma of concentrated Ribena on decanting. The pure black and impenetrable glass made decanting very difficult, although the very pale rose colour of the wine did mean that the sediment showed up on the wine in the funnel very quickly.

After 4 hours in the decanter, the wine was much darker than when decanted, a distinctly red centre with a touch of brown at the rim. A wonderful nose lifted out of the glass, of strawberries and brown sugar - not a hint of unintegrated alcohol. Smooth into the mouth, sweet and silky. Although it is a sweet wine, it has lovely balance and elegance. Plenty of fruit on the mid-palate but also a slight hint of some volatility that was a little distracting. The aftertaste is quite stunning. Strong and pronounced and very long lasting the aftertaste moves through a whole panoply of fruit salad flavours before finishing with a strong coffee tone. I was very pleasantly surprised by this wine and would say that it is certainly above the median experience for drinking now and is probably better than the Warre '85 that I had a couple of weeks ago. Suckling's book, rating and comments are probably well out of date for this wine now. 7-7 or 92/100.

A wine I would reccomend. Delicious drinking for Christmas.

[simon Lisle]

I agree this is a good solid port I bought a case at auction earlier this year for £170 including bp.The only bit I disagree with is the warres 85 which was head and shoulders above this maybe your bottle was a poor one or my delaforce was,but the delaforce I opened was good