For The Love Of Port

A 375ml bottle, decanted for a little under an hour. During decanting, I observed that the color was a little lighter than I had hoped for a 1994, and definitely with some brown in the hue. The aroma suggested some primary berry fruits however, so I remaining optimistic. First swirls confirmed the primary fruits, with cherry and berry, and even some grape stem. There was also some spirit, and perhaps some light, but not unpleasant, VA. The flavor was similar, with cherry Sucrets being an obvious descriptor. I was thinking 90-92 point range. But with time and my second pour, the VA grew and the aroma turned more rotten. It's still drinkable, but I'm concerned it may not remain so. I'm going to score 88 points now and hope for the best.

I had a 750ml a couple years ago, and got the same feeling on the wine. It shows the ripeness of the year without a proper backbone for longterm aging. This is not the only VP showing like this from this Year

RO went through a very long rough patch for their Ports, especially their VP’s. They’ve slowly started to improve them but they’ve prioritized their dry wine program first. That said, your note doesn’t surprise me given the year. Their newer stuff is better.


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On day two I didn't notice the rotten aroma on the first pour. But it didn't smell great, and with time just seemed kind of ho-hum. I did finish it off. 88-90 points.