November 2008 VT: Any 1994 Vintage Port

[Andy Velebil]

Ok everyone Post what you drank here and don't forget the TN.

[Todd Pettinger]

This is great! Since I will be attending a 1994 Horizontal this coming Friday, led by none other than Roy himself, I should have at least 6-8 94 VPs to post on.

[Todd Pettinger]

So I ended up with 9 TNs for 1994 VPs but since Roy has commissioned me to do a Guest Corner article on them, I can't really post the TNs for now. I will, however say what I did get to try:

Churchill 1994 VP
Gould Campbell 1994 VP
Warre 1994 VP
Dow 1994 VP
Graham's 1994 VP
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994 VP
Niepoort 1994 VP
Taylor Fladgate 1994 VP
Fonseca 1994 VP

We were supposed to be having the 1994 Noval, which I was truly looking forward to, but the bottle opened for the tasting was corked and was then replaced by the Niepoort. Unfortunately, the Niepoort was from 2x 375 mL bottles - whether this affected the showing of the VP, I have no doubt, but we'll never know. Proper TNs will be updated here once the Guest Corner article is released!

I can say it was a fabulous tasting and having Roy lead us through these Ports, some showing phenomenally, was a great treat!

Todd

[Glenn E.]

I can't wait to read your article!

I have bottles of the Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Taylor, and Vesuvio in my fridge (plus a Ramos Pinto and some Broadbent) so your notes will tell me a lot about my stash.

[Roy Hersh]

Here is an informal note on the 1994 Niepoort mentioned above. From 375 ml.

Medium ruby with edge fading to tawny color. Med-full body. Evolved 2ndary notes. Spirity, mint, finesse and balanced. Not a LT ager in this format. 85 points.

A more detailed TN will be available soon.

[Andy Velebil]

1994 Ferreira Vintage Port

This still has lots of dark color to it, and although not quite up to the level of the Vesuvio or Taylors in color, it is still holding up very well color wise. A very enticing young nose that shows no signs of secondary characteristics yet and is still primary. The palate has loads of tannins that pucker the mouth yet the fruit is still tight and possibly not fully out of a closed stage at this point. Yet the fruit is very dark berries, lots of spices, and very full on the palate with a long full finish. I have no doubt this will be a very nice VP once it has another 15+ years on it. One to watch for sure. 93+ points

[Frederick Blais]

I did open and drink the Ramos Pinto 1994 over the last 2 days.

Uppon opening, it was shut, lean and alcoholic. From between 3 hours and 24hours after opening, it gained weight, density on the palate with fresh tones of flower, dark plums, the fruit is really ripe here, on the limit of too much maybe. Still the palate is balanced, finely grained tannins are still present, loads of licorice and black plums, not too complex, sweet enough, good acidity on the finish that is short though. All in all, this quite drinkable and not as fat as so many 94 I did try before, but we can definitively feel the heat of the vintage with such ripe fruits. It should develop complexity and become better with time. 16/20+

[Al B.]

During November I only tasted one 1994 vintage, this was the Warre. My tasting note was:

Deep centre, lighter rim. A spiky, cranberry nose, but quite closed. So silky in the mouth, very well balanced and elegant with sweet mince pies wrapped around the gentle tannins. Great mid-palate development, allowing mocha and black chocolate to come through. Full of elegance. The aftertaste is dominated by the tannins but is amazingly complex. With luck, additional time will allow a better nose to develop and make this magnificent. 92/100. Drunk 27 November 2008.

What was clear to me, was that this is a wine with the fruit, acidity and tannic structure to develop and mature for many years to come.