For The Love Of Port

Port: 1983 Dow VP

Served in Ohm Port glass, with 70% Sharffen Burger choclate

6am

Some yellowish gunk on the top of the cork.. My rabbit-ear corkscrew wasn't able to pierce cork.. It just pushed it into bottle.. :twisted:

Decanted into standard decanter through cheese cloth..

Approx. 3 tbl. spoons of sediment discarded..

Colour: A light reddish-brown.. Transparent (when compared with Cab or Shiraz)

Temp: 19-20C (66-67F)

Nose:

Very pungent.. Rotten apples, Isopropyl alchohal.. Unpleasant.. Medicinal..

Taste:

Very bitter.. Tart.. Not sweet at all.. Well, I would call it a "sickly-sweet".. Medium body.. Tastes, again, like rotten apples and Isopropyl alchohal.. Very hot throughout, especially on finish..

Legs: Very long hang time.. Longest I've seen.. No surprise at 20% alcohal, I guess..

Chocolate: No effect on palate.. Takes a bit of the "edge" off finish, perhaps..

Needless to say a bit of a dissapointment.. I'm hoping this won't be my first and last Port..


1pm:

Things are looking up..

Nose is not as unpleasently overpowering..

Colour's about the same..

Taste is MUCH smoother.. Even.. Starting to show some body.. Velvety?

Still a little bitter, but for the most part the sweetness I was expecting is showing, now..

Still tastes and smells a bit like apples.. Not rotten, but definately cut in peices and left to turn brown and mushy.. Still hot on finish.. But it's a good, lingering, "warm all over" hot..

I'm very relieved..

The chocolate again didn't have much effect on the taste..

10pm

Eureka!

THIS is the Port experience I was hoping for..

Just an amazing transformation from when I first opened it this morning..

Definately makes me a believer on the powers of decanting..

Starting to smell more like a Cab.. Smells like grapes, with still that isopropyl alcohal in the background..

Tastes VERY sweet, now.. Like maple syrup sweet.. Definately an "on it's own" dessert drink..

No bitterness at all.

Full-bodied, velvety..

Finish is still hot, but it's good.. A little chocolate helps, there..

No change to the colour..

Hope that covers everything.. :)

Very good TN, and educational to see how the port developes with airtime.

Bjørn Tore

Very good TN, and educational to see how the port developes with airtime.

Bjørn Tore

Nice to read that the enjoyment of a Old Vintage Port was a full day experience (from 6am until 10pm). I find very interesting your assessment notes throughout the day. Thank you for sharing it.
I must confess I got myself the desire to open a VP this morning right after I've finished reading your notes . Thank You.

I was expecting a raisen smell and taste..

The apples thing wasn't UNpleasant.. Not after a little of the alcohal blew off, anyways..

A VERY sweet Port.. If this is one of the drier Ports.. I don't know if I could handle a sweet one.. :)

PS, about the 6 am thing, that's when I got home from my night shift..

I opened it, had a small sample.. Slept for 7 hours, got up and had a sample..

Then I had some after dinner.. About 2-3 hours after..

So my palate was pretty much a blank canvas with each tasting..

Tried it again this morning (27 hours after decanting), and, again, there is no apple smell at all, rotten or otherwise..

Now it smells more like grapes.. Smell is still very strong.. It's pleasent and even, now.. Spicy..

I say it smells like a Cab, now.. A really powerfully alcohalic Cab..

Taste is very sweet.. Like diluted syrup or brandied suger (and yes, I've tried this in a few desserts)..

I can't really nail down WHAT it tastes like, now.. I'm imagining a grape that's been soaked in sugar water for a couple days..

I think I'll try a Warre's for sure, next.. Or a Taylor..

PS

I can see kind of where the raisen association is coming from..

BUT, tasing this Port I'm not getting the burning spicyness at the back of the throat that I get from eating raisens..

And I just stuck my nose in a bag of raisens..

Definatly not the same aroma.. The Port's nose is not as "heavy" and cloying..

CONGRATULATIONS DOUG!!!!!!

I am glad that you got to experience first hand the wonders of extended decanting. It truly does make a big difference ... although I know folks who totally disagree with me on that point.

Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed your bottle and it was a very good first one to try. Thanks for sharing your tasting note here.

Thanks, Roy..

I've got a Smith-Woodhouse LBV '94 to try as well..

I'm sure the VP's are superior, but doesn't hurt to see how they differ..

As for the extended decanting, as you'll have gleaned from my TN, no word of a lie, I would NOT have been able to drink the stuff that first came out of that bottle..

Not willingly, anyways.. :)

Only after 10 hours was it drinkable..

I don't know if it was an off-bottle, as some have suggested when I posted my TN on the WS forum..

But it was very drinkable after the decanting, so I can't see how it would go from bad to good..

It would have just stayed bad, no?

Unless it should have been good right off the bat, and would have got even better.. :)

I'll never know till I try another Dow.. Hopefully that one (if indeed this one was flawed) won't be flawed as well..

Well the apple essence you mentioned, did have me wondering .... but I don't know that you had an off bottle. Regardless of what those on the WS site or my impressions, what counts is that YOU liked it. Period. : )

what counts is that YOU liked it

I would have to agree..

If there's better out there, I'll find out soon enough..

As for the rotten apples.. That's what I associated it with..

But the more I think about it, and this is along the lines of your observation, one man's rotten apples are another man's candied pears..

Doug,

I thought your tasting notes were fantastic and it was fabulous to be able to see the way the port developed over an extended period of time. One of the things that I really enjoy is drinking my VP over a period of 2-3 days. I am always amazed at the how different the wine is from one day to the next.

I had a Dow 83 in late August, but it didn't smell the way that you described. I'm really pleased that your Dow pulled through the "bottle funk" and came out the other side as the "handsome prince" it should be.

Alex

I'm really pleased that your Dow pulled through the "bottle funk" and came out the other side as the "handsome prince" it should be.

I am too..

Like I say, it was looking pretty bleak when I first opened it.. :)

But if this was an off bottle, bring on the good Dow! 8)