For The Love Of Port

1969 Oporto Bottled. The bottle developed a leak which did not seem to affect its performance (See related thread: http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... =7&t=14684)

Decanted 4 hours before being consumed. Coming out of the bottle it looked like a very pale rose, yet deepened quite nicely into a brown/light red in the decanter. Smelled a bit like an earthy tawny.

Tasting: Color has remained consistent, aroma has a slightly earthy tone with vanilla extract. The taste has the same plus a touch of marzipan and hints of cooked sugar--there was no excess heat and the fruit was nicely mature. Moderate finish that does linger nicely. Considering all I read about bottle variation, we had a definite winner--even our wives, who have never liked port in the past, loved it.

Notes on its provenance: my friends have had this for at least 20 years, before that unknown. They have no basement in their home, stored on its side in their living room--so a steady but high temperature (70 degrees +_) and in light, yet showed beautifully.

95 Points

John,
As I am sure you've read by now there is some distinct bottle variation in these that seems to be a bit random. So with that in mind, and given the storage conditions, very glad to see this showed so well.

Yes, Andy, I was well aware of the variations, hence my opening with date and where bottled (Glenn had referred to a 1970 Oporto bottling, ours was a 1969 and not done in the UK). Got to admit after figuring the bottle variation thing out I was very concerned going over to friends to see exactly when and where bottled--what a great relief to find Oporto bottled.