2003 Warre Vintage Port

[Paul Fountain]

Only the slightest of bricking at this stage. There is quite a spicy aroma with some cinnamon and white pepper, aniseed and a hint of bacon.
It's quite viscous on the tongue with some blueberry jam, white pepper and cinnamon again, along with black tea. This was consumed over 4 days and it took until the fourth day for an astringent note that reminded me of the tannins in over-brewed strong black tea to fade enough to not be a distraction. At this stage it is solid enough but a bit simple and not quite in balance. I'll likely give this a few more years before I try another one. (90 pts)

[Andy Velebil]

Thanks for the update on this one. At 20 years old now, it's good to get data points on how VP's from the vintage are doing.

[Moses Botbol]

30 is the new 20 when it comes to minimum opening years for modern top tier VP's.

[Mike J. W.]

30 is the new 20 when it comes to minimum opening years for modern top tier VP's.

This really does seem to be the case.

[Glenn E.]

30 is the new 20 when it comes to minimum opening years for modern top tier VP's.

That's been my rule of thumb pretty much since I started drinking Port. I always thought that the horizontals we've done at 20 years old were much too soon... virtually all of the VPs are still too young at that age, and the desire to check in on how they're aging can be done just as easily by spot checking a few Ports here and there.

At 30 they're just reaching maturity, at least for my taste. There may be a couple here or there that are already at peak, but most will still have an easy 5-10 years before they plateau and the best will still need 15 or even 20 years to get there.