For The Love Of Port

I received a bottle of the 1994 Borges as a gift, so I opened it tonight.

After 30 minutes in the decanter, there's not much here. The color is already starting to show some age. The nose is slightly jammy, but it's light. The acidity is fairly light as are the tannins. The taste is pretty much just sweet and one-dimensional. So far, it's mostly like an inexpensive ruby port.

Let's see what happens after a night in the decanter.

All the best,
John

Well, it's been 12 hours in the decanter and it's developing. The acid and tannin is coming on, which gives it more stuffing than it showed last night. The sweetness is still very evident and rather simplistic, a little reminiscent of liquified grape jelly. I'm glad it's getting better. I'll post more notes after it's served tonight.

It's time to check in again. The wine had been in the decanter 24 hours at the time of the next tasting.

It's getting better! The acid, tannins, and sweetness are coming together into a decent harmony. The grape jam taste has gone away and been replaces by a grape sweetness that you expect from a serious port.

My thoughts on this wine is that it can probably go another 10 years, but there's likely nothing to be gained by additional ageing. I don't know the price point on this wine, as nothing showed up in the U.S. in Wine Searcher Pro. I don't think I would pay more than I would normally pay for a decent year LBV such as a 1995, so about $25-$30 a bottle.

All the best,
John