1985 Warre Vintage Port

[Lindsay E.]

Opened 24 hours earlier from a 375ml bottle. I was hoping that since this wine was in a half bottle that the port would be a bit more developed and enjoyable on pop 'n pour...it wasn't. The wine was tight so I filtered and decanted for one hour then put it back in the original bottle and saved it for the following night (06/13/21) On 06/13/21 the wine had medium intensity aromas of ripe black cherry, forest floor, black berry, clove, cinnamon, cola and wintergreen. The nose was less intense than I would have expected for a wine this aged, almost like the wine hasn't fully opened up yet. (Trying the wine again on day 3 the experience is the same.) On the palate, the flavors get more tart, red apple skin, cranberry, crab apple along with with some cherry and black cherry. The mouthfeel is quite nice, substantial without being cloying, nice medium plus acid and tannin with a long finish. I suspect this bottle either isn't quite ready for prime time or it is a slightly flawed bottle. Assuming this bottle is sound, then I could see easily being a 2 to 4 points higher in score with more aging, but as of tonight I'm 93+ points.

*On an interesting side note, I went back and referenced my Tasting Notes from the FTLOP 1985 VP 2-day grand tasting back in 2015 and I scored this wine 93 points on that occasion also...others such as Roy had given the same wine 96 points that night. The similarity between my scores makes me think that for my palate, this wine is not yet at its peak.

[Andy Velebil]

This Port has a long way to go to reach peak. A very enjoyable and young bottle still.