(fortunately with only 2 bottles left). Bottle no 1: level slightly lower than normal, but no seepage as such detected. A little mould under the seal, but that normally is of no importance. The cork separated in about half when opening and the lower remainder was disintegrating as a damp mass (why do port producers so often use low-quality corks for a wine supposed to last decades ?!). Decanted, filtered and then tasted. The bouquet was ok, but as the wine had a strange burning bitterness extending very long into the aftertaste, we decided to open and serve the last one instead. We are not talking alcohol or tannins here, but a bitterness recognized from other things purposely or inadvertantly consumed. Not the usual bad cork/TCA taste.
After a night in the refrigerator it recovered somewhat (both cold and at room temperature), fine bouquet, reasonable flavour when ignoring the bitterness, but I would never serve it to any guest.
Bottle no 2: same thing with the disintegrating cork. There were still some notes of bitterness, but to a lesser degree, so we drank the wine, but it definitely was past its prime (85).
It was last tasted in 2016 at a fair quality and there is no obvious reason for this sudden decline in quality.
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