For The Love Of Port

1980 Warre’s Vintage Port

Today was a classically wet, damp, grey day in London. Although my spirits were still on a modest high after last night’s highly enjoyable “Jay Miller visits London” offline, I felt a suitably warming red would fit the bill of seeing off this wintery day. Those of you who know my drinking preferences will understand why I chose a bottle of Vintage Port to meet this requirement.

I have enjoyed a number of fine Ports from the underrated 1980 vintage over the years, though it must have been a few years since I last drank the 1980 Warre’s. I stood this bottle up for ten hours, then decanted it for two hours. The colour is a deep plum red with no signs of bricking at the rim. The nose is a relatively youthful fruit-driven Christmas cake with hints of dry herbs. The mouthfeel is still full of plummy fruit, sweet but not overtly so, with a warming presence that is neither simple or complex, but still most satisfying. With air, it gained a dash of complexity and power but still remained ‘user friendly’. The tannins seem to be hidden beneath the wall of plum fruit, which I have no objections to. At thirty-six years old, it is still youthful and will surely develop some more. I would guess that it will still provide pleasure in another 30+ years, although I doubt any of my bottles will last that long. 89/100.

Thanks for the TN Nicos! I agree - 1980 was an overlooked vintage. There are some very solid wines made that year. 1980 was lost between the hype of the 1977 and 1983/1985 vintages. Roy was the one that got me to pay attention to the 1980s. The Symington brands were especially successful.

A well written and interesting note, thank you Nicos; '80 is certainly an interesting, but quite variable vintage from the few I have tried. Last time I had the Dow, it seemed "not ready", bizarrely at over 30 years old.

Nice to see another note about a less fancied vintage doing well. Over the years I have often heard good things about the 1980 ports. Coincidentally, just yesterday I saw a bottle of the 1980 Warre's going for C$125, a shade over US$90 at today's exchange rate. Clearly I should have bought some back in the day.

Mahmoud.

David Spriggs wrote:Thanks for the TN Nicos! I agree - 1980 was an overlooked vintage. There are some very solid wines made that year. 1980 was lost between the hype of the 1977 and 1983/1985 vintages. Roy was the one that got me to pay attention to the 1980s. The Symington brands were especially successful.

I am firmly a believer that 1980 has been largely forgotten because most of them have turned out not so great. While the Sym's did really well during this decade many of the other top players did not. 1980 Taylors is average at best and the Fonseca is down right poor. 1980 Fonseca VP remains the only Fonseca I've ever poured down the drain.

Outside of Symington VP's, what other 1980 VP's have shown greatness?

Andy Velebil wrote:Outside of Symington VP's, what other 1980 VP's have shown greatness?

"Shown Greatness" is a stretch, but '80 Ferreira is great. Sandeman is solid, Taylor and Ramos are both good.

I had 1980 Taylor recently and I thought it was forgettable. Flawed - no. Delicious - no. Serviceable - Yes.

TFP VPs from 1980 are all "a miss" or amiss, depending on your interpretation. I agree that Sandeman and Ferreira are both drinking really well these days. Gould Campbell, Dow's and Smith Woodhouse are ridiculously young, and Graham's right there too. Nacional has finally hit its stride, backwards for many prior years. Warre's is quite good and most bottles showing upside and still mostly on the young side. A magnum of the Warre's was wonderful and much younger than I find 750s. While Nicos has a great Port palate, I am not on the same bandwagon about 3 more decades for this Port, unless from larger format. Otherwise another decade and a half, from where I sit.

That being said, it was wonderful to have my Port brother Nicos posting on FTLOP again! I've known him a full half decade before FTLOP and consumed more bottles of Port with him than anyone except my own brother ... which is saying, a lot.

Roy Hersh wrote:TFP VPs from 1980 are all "a miss" or amiss, depending on your interpretation. I agree that Sandeman and Ferreira are both drinking really well these days. Gould Campbell, Dow's and Smith Woodhouse are ridiculously young, and Graham's right there too. Nacional has finally hit its stride, backwards for many prior years. Warre's is quite good and most bottles showing upside and still mostly on the young side. A magnum of the Warre's was wonderful and much younger than I find 750s. While Nicos has a great Port palate, I am not on the same bandwagon about 3 more decades for this Port, unless from larger format. Otherwise another decade and a half, from where I sit.

That being said, it was wonderful to have my Port brother Nicos posting on FTLOP again! I've known him a full half decade before FTLOP and consumed more bottles of Port with him than anyone except my own brother ... which is saying, a lot.

Roy,
Thank you for your very kind words. There is not enough space or time here to be able to even begin to tell forumites here how much I have learnt about Port and other topics from you. It has been an incredibly fun ride to date, and it is not over yet.

My best wishes,
Nicos