1998 Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port

[Andy Velebil]

It was a cold and soon to be rainy night....

In reality it was, but really I just hadn't had this in a long time and wanted to see how it was aging so it gave me a good excuse. Decanted 6 hours. Still a dark ruby that is now starting to lighten. The nose initially had some spirit mixed in with the red plums. An early sip after decanting also showed a lot of protruding spirit. That spirit blew off on both by the time I started drinking this, a good reason why decanting VP, especially younger VP's, is advised. The palate is now at the juncture where it is still showing some young red plums but also starting to show some secondary characteristics of leather, violets, and pronounced menthol on the back of the palate and on the somewhat short finish. The biggest weakness of this is that short finish and a somewhat simplicity on the body. I've seen a wild range of scores on this over the years, including some fairly high ones. While this is a very nice VP I don't see this being a "great" Vesuvio. At 18 years old now it's showing far more advanced than the 1997 and the 2000. IMO this will make a very nice mid-term drinker while you wait for other vintages of Vesuvio to get closer to maturity. I'd guess this will show its best over the next 10 years, as I don't see it getting much better than it is now.
88 Points