Last Friday evening I opened a bottle of this vintage port that I have had since the late 80s. This was a vintage port that my friends and I were drinking back in the day because it was both inexpensive (about C$25) and very approachable, with plenty of fruit and ripe tannins. We thought at the time that this would be an early drinker. Nevertheless I had two bottles marked for cellaring. One evening after dinner with friends we needed an extra dessert wine and this port fit the bill because of it's drinkability. I planned on replacing it but by the time I got around to the store it was sold out. So I only had this single bottle for almost thirty years.
Recalling how forward it was when it was young I was half expecting this to be very light, without grip, and perhaps a bit spirity. I suspected that it probably didn't need a long decant. After much prevaricating, seated and drinking our second wine of the evening, I decided that it was a vintage port and it should be allowed a decent decant, so I opened it at about 7:30pm, thereby giving it a 3-hour start. I was surprised to find a second, blue plastic capsule under the outer capsule and the cork was dark and soaked right through to the top.
- Dinner-10Nov2017.jpg (1.02 MiB) Viewed 151 times
What comes to mind is what we often say about wines, about it being balanced. This port was very nicely balanced when it was young and I expect it was that that helped carry this wine over the years.
Cheers .................. Mahmoud.