1989 Ramos Pinto LBV Port

[Kurt Wieneke]

Found this lurking on a back shelf at $16.99. Opened on Christmas night. Regular cork with signs of slight seepage, a touch moldy. Upon removal, the cork is soaked all the way through and has an off-putting aroma. Reading the back label this was bottled in July 1993. The rules of LBV are that it be bottled between July of the 4th year (after vintage) to December of the 6th year. So it looks as if this was bottled at the earliest possible juncture. I have no idea whether this is from Ervamoira or Bom Retiro, maybe a combination of both.

1st night: An absolute alcoholic mess of a wine; other than some butterscotch on the nose, this comes across as lean, astringent, with biting tannins and unintegrated aguardente on the nose.

2nd night: Much better now! The spirit has integrated and there is tart cherry at the core along with a complex nose of butterscotch, briarwood, and black olive. Fairly one-dimensional on the palate. Tannins are still there on the back end. I'm thinking maybe I should buy another and let it age for another 15-20 years.

3rd night: We shall see!

[Andy Velebil]

Kurt,

Good note on an interesting bottle. It is always fun to find these type of bottles and give 'em a go to see how they do. Sometimes there are winners and sometimes......

[Kurt Wieneke]

3rd night: This just keeps getting better and better, night after night. The palate has smoothed out substantially and there is some good fruit showing on night 3. Forgot to mention that the bottle had thrown a good bit of sediment. Methinks this is worth buying another (especially at that price) and cellaring for many more years. Then based on this experience, I suspect it will transform into an excellent bottle-matured LBV.

[Roy Hersh]

Sound advice Kurt. The ONLY LBVs that I have intentionally not stored in my own cellar is a solid stash of 1994 Quinta do Noval LBVs, still my all-time favorite of this genre. I know they will be even better in another decade. They were certainly fantastic upon release and each one has been better than the last. I love when that happens.

Good score and thanks for the 3rd day follow up!