For The Love Of Port

Martinez Vintage Port 1994
An emergency decant in the hotel room, I wasn't expecting great things from what I understood to be a lesser producer, but I simply could not pass this up due to the fact that I have never tried a Martinez VP and it was a '94, which I understood should be good, regardless of which producer.

The wine appeared to pour a bit cloudy with tinges of brown throughout a deep red body. Any cloudiness that I may have imagined disappeared rapidly and I wrote it off to the rough treatment the bottle had been given, having been transported back from the liquor store in Colorado Springs to the hotel room.

Smelling the cork alone sent me to heaven, it had a rich, sweet smell with no detractions at all. Swirling the wine for a few minutes releases aromas of caramel and fruit of some unidentifiable variety.

First sips revealed a medium-thin body with a smooth caramel flavour profile, mixed with
slight spicy notes present, but smooth integration of alcohol. The flavour profile had some fruit, but mainly that of a VP that is starting to turn tawny and it was fantastic. The wonderful caramels, rich butterscotch and rounded fruits made me come back to this bottle again and again. Sadly, the bottle ran dry far too soon as there was two of us drinking and then 3 more showed up at my door – all received tastes and despite all but one being non-port drinkers, all left very impressed and wanting more. A second bottle was purchased for the next night but never made it open, so I was more than happy to bring it home with me.

While at only 14 years, this VP should not be fully mature, it drank as though it were just that. Not sure how many bottles you own of this particular vintage, but if you have a few and are banking on them to make it for a long haul, you might want to check one out right now to see if you agree with my assessment. Not a blockbuster, but a very good immediate drinker if all bottles have the same rapid-aging as this one. Not a detractor, but if you can pay less than $50 USD per bottle as I did, a 1994 that is drinking almost fully mature today is a helluva good deal in my books. If I could get more to bring home, I would instantly.

93 pts

Todd,
thanks for the great note and the good news. I do have an untouched case of 12. I think I will let them in the cellar for some more years. There is a thread from Ronald here http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... start_here
and a great updated TN here http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=15869

Cheers
Michael

Todd,

Your experience of a mature or semi-mature wine is very different from mine. While I freely admit that I've only had the Martinez 1994 a few (3 or 4) times, I have always been very impressed with it and its showing as a young fruity port with lots of potential for the future.

I wonder how the store in Chicago has stored these bottles? Do you think they could have been stored well but slightly warm and so had their development accelerated?

Alex

I too am little suprised with the TN's. Although I have never had the Martinez '94, I would expect this to have a long life. Martinez know what they are doing from what I have tasted in other vintages.

I had thought originally, that the Sandeman '94 was thin and nearing maturity, etc... until it was open two days and then it showed the excellence on the 1994 vintage.

1994 are soft. Tannins are ultra ripe and polished and the acidity is very low on many ports. I'm not surprised of someone finding one Port mature from this Vintage, especially from Martinez that I always felt was an early maturer.

Here is a note I made on this wine earlier this year...

On decanting
A huge blackcurrant smell filled the room while decanting. Dark in the decanter but lighter than expected in the glass. A nice mid to heavy weight. Black fruits quickly followed by lots of heat which fades into a minty finish. This should be good if the heat integrates.

+2 Hours
Better weight. Chocolate, delicious and now slightly tannic. A nice long finish. Very promising.

+4 Hours
Now a great molasses nose but a bit hollow in the mouth. Still lots of fruit and a good finish.

I have a feeling this wine needs to grow up. It has enough tannic dryness to see it through but enough fruity scrumptiousness to be wiped out in it's youth.

Score: 5-7

Todd, from your TN I think your bottle was probably heat damaged. This wine should be showing no signs of turning tawny if properly stored. Early maturing? Possibly. But not what you describe. I would advise you to try this again from a different source as it was a very enjoyable wine and (here in the UK) is very well priced.

Derek

I'm with Derek here. This port shouldn't be turning into tawny already. I just reread my TN's on it (Michael, thank you for posting them) and they all show that it's still in need of more time. It's probably THE bargain of the vintage. I've been able to buy all my bottles between 25 and 30 euros, and it should still be available for that or a little more if you search well. :)

I would suspect that you guys are spot on with the heat damage suspicions. I had a friend who lives in Colorado Springs check back with that same store to see if there was a case that I could persuade them to pick up for me. They mentioned that all the Ports had been moved back to the original place they normally store them... Immediately suspicious, I asked for details and got back the following reply:

Well, they normally have all the po[r]ts up at the very front of the store, sitting in the window. You must have gone in [when] they were moving their stock around because where you describe them as having been found (buried at the back of the store) is never where they are.

Further prompting yielded:

Yep, you got it... in full sun exposure. And in case you didn't notice... [some text removed] the heater units are seriously directly overhead... guess they need to "heat" all those cool bottles in the winter when it can get fairly cold here.

I suppose you aren't wanting me to pick those up for you? If you did, should I mention a price that you would be willing to pay? Hey, if they are heat-damaged, you should get them at discount!

So yes, heat damage is not just likely, almost assured.

Still, darn good for a "damaged" bottle. I instructed my friend to offer them $25/btl down from the normal $48 and walk if they demanded a penny more!

Todd

Just to compare... in the UK this port goes for less than $31 per bottle. What a great deal! I would be buying this by the case at that price.
-Dave-

David Spriggs wrote:Just to compare... in the UK this port goes for less than $31 per bottle. What a great deal! I would be buying this by the case at that price.
-Dave-

No doubt. Prices for that particular store were a touch on the high side for other Ports and dry reds that they had. The only reason I picked this up is it is producer that we do not see anything from in my area and that is half the fun of traveling - trying new things that are difficult, if not impossible to source at home!!!