Ok, sorry I'm late again. I did not run a poll to get people opinions on this so I can launch a topic on time. I did chose to pick a 1980 Port for 2 reasons. First, we have spoke a lot about this Vintage in the past years but never really evalutated its potential on a large scale. 2nd reason is that celebrations are coming in December and 1980 VP sounds all appropriate to get a mature VP at the table.
Spot is open for the writing now, share your experiences.
December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
Moderators: Glenn E., Roy Hersh, Andy Velebil
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Frederick Blais
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December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
Living the dream and now working for a Port company
Re: December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
I like the theme and hope others will chime in too. This is the first time this TN will appear, although it will be in the upcoming newsletter two, along with more than 3 dozen others.
1980 Dow Vintage Port – From Richard Beeken’s birthday bash bottle. Extremely dark crimson color with a light ruby/pink meniscus. Ooh that smell; currants and great minerality and a touch of herbal essence. This is an excellent bottle of the ’80 Dow’s, which reveals enormous weight and density in the mouth. It’s even more revealing on the palate than the nose, offering chewy, sweet dark berry fruit that finishes dry with amazing length on the aftertaste. As big as this Port portrays itself to be, it remains in balance and is exceedingly soft texturally, with very genteel tannins. This should drink well any time through 2030 and in my opinion, is still the best VP of 1980. 94+ points
1980 Dow Vintage Port – From Richard Beeken’s birthday bash bottle. Extremely dark crimson color with a light ruby/pink meniscus. Ooh that smell; currants and great minerality and a touch of herbal essence. This is an excellent bottle of the ’80 Dow’s, which reveals enormous weight and density in the mouth. It’s even more revealing on the palate than the nose, offering chewy, sweet dark berry fruit that finishes dry with amazing length on the aftertaste. As big as this Port portrays itself to be, it remains in balance and is exceedingly soft texturally, with very genteel tannins. This should drink well any time through 2030 and in my opinion, is still the best VP of 1980. 94+ points
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Glenn E.
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Re: December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
Nice note Roy, sounds like a winner!
But now I have (yet another) excuse to buy more Port. I don't have any 1980s in my cellar, so I had ordered a pair of 1980 Dows so that I could open one for the December VT. I wouldn't want to duplicate, though, so now I need something else. :help:
I plan to open the bottle at Christmas along with a 1985 Fonseca, so I would prefer something that will provide good contrast. Suggestions?
But now I have (yet another) excuse to buy more Port. I don't have any 1980s in my cellar, so I had ordered a pair of 1980 Dows so that I could open one for the December VT. I wouldn't want to duplicate, though, so now I need something else. :help:
I plan to open the bottle at Christmas along with a 1985 Fonseca, so I would prefer something that will provide good contrast. Suggestions?
Glenn Elliott
Re: December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
Graham's 1980 ... the 2nd best Port of the vintage, in my humble opinion of course.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Erik Wiechers
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- Location: Groningen, Netherlands
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December 2008 VT : 1980 Borges VP
I bought this bottle some time ago for € 30. I read some TN's on the net and wasnt too impressed.
Opened this bottle at 4 PM and decanted it for about 5 hours. The colour is pink/reddish. The cork was saturated and a piece of the bottom half remained in the bottle. Not a problem for me since i always use a seeve when puring. The smell was a little chemical with a vague scent of some leftover red fruit, also a hint of vanilla. My first impression is that it is way past its prime.
The taste is chemical, it burns also a little on my tongue. It stings en keeps on burning for about 30 seconds. The aftertaste is chemical, definately not nice. Im thinking about throwing it away.
No rating at this point.
2 days later, after dinner with a friend and after a bottle of wine we decided to give it a go again.
A major improvement, its soft and sweet. The stinging and the burning has completely vanished. It turned into a nice, silky and smooth wine. I never experienced this, does a wine really needs 2 days of decanting ? It appears so with this bottle. I have 1 left from the year 1982 aswell, will give that a try after the 1985 Osborne VP.
89 points for this one.
Opened this bottle at 4 PM and decanted it for about 5 hours. The colour is pink/reddish. The cork was saturated and a piece of the bottom half remained in the bottle. Not a problem for me since i always use a seeve when puring. The smell was a little chemical with a vague scent of some leftover red fruit, also a hint of vanilla. My first impression is that it is way past its prime.
The taste is chemical, it burns also a little on my tongue. It stings en keeps on burning for about 30 seconds. The aftertaste is chemical, definately not nice. Im thinking about throwing it away.
No rating at this point.
2 days later, after dinner with a friend and after a bottle of wine we decided to give it a go again.
A major improvement, its soft and sweet. The stinging and the burning has completely vanished. It turned into a nice, silky and smooth wine. I never experienced this, does a wine really needs 2 days of decanting ? It appears so with this bottle. I have 1 left from the year 1982 aswell, will give that a try after the 1985 Osborne VP.
89 points for this one.
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Glenn E.
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Re: December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
I am serving a pair of 1980 Vintage Ports for Christmas. Full tasting notes can be found in these threads:
1980 Warre's Vintage Port
1980 Graham's Vintage Port
I decanted both bottles at noon with the intention of serving the Warre's with dinner at 4:30 and the Graham's after dinner at 6 or 7.
Upon decanting, both are so far very hot and seem a lot younger than 28 years. The Warre's color belies its age, but the Graham's could pass for a mid-'90s youngster without too much trouble.
I'll post group impressions here and ongoing tasting notes in their respective threads.
+1 day
Well the Ports went over very well with our guests. The Graham's was slightly more popular than the Warre's by about a glass.
To me, both bottles seemed to be slightly off, but I'm just not sure about that. They were both far more tannic than I expected (or like) and they both had some bitterness or sourness that I'm having a very difficult time describing. I'm taking the remains to a small gathering tonight and will get "expert" opinions from that group regarding their quality. It's possible that I was just experiencing an off palate yesterday, because the bottle that I decanted today is looking pretty wonderful so far.
+1.5 days
I took the remains of the bottles over to Roy's house for a small get-together, and both bottles showed much better (to me). The tannins in both were much softer and better integrated, though still quite strong. The alcohol in the Warre's seemed to de-integrate, which gave it an alcohol note on the nose and increased the heat in the mouth, but otherwise it seemed smoother than on Christmas day.
As was the case on Christmas day, the others at Roy's house didn't think there was anything wrong with the bottles and even thought they showed pretty well. So I suspect that I was just experiencing an off palate on Christmas day... oh well, it happens once in a while.
1980 Warre's Vintage Port
1980 Graham's Vintage Port
I decanted both bottles at noon with the intention of serving the Warre's with dinner at 4:30 and the Graham's after dinner at 6 or 7.
Upon decanting, both are so far very hot and seem a lot younger than 28 years. The Warre's color belies its age, but the Graham's could pass for a mid-'90s youngster without too much trouble.
I'll post group impressions here and ongoing tasting notes in their respective threads.
+1 day
Well the Ports went over very well with our guests. The Graham's was slightly more popular than the Warre's by about a glass.
To me, both bottles seemed to be slightly off, but I'm just not sure about that. They were both far more tannic than I expected (or like) and they both had some bitterness or sourness that I'm having a very difficult time describing. I'm taking the remains to a small gathering tonight and will get "expert" opinions from that group regarding their quality. It's possible that I was just experiencing an off palate yesterday, because the bottle that I decanted today is looking pretty wonderful so far.
+1.5 days
I took the remains of the bottles over to Roy's house for a small get-together, and both bottles showed much better (to me). The tannins in both were much softer and better integrated, though still quite strong. The alcohol in the Warre's seemed to de-integrate, which gave it an alcohol note on the nose and increased the heat in the mouth, but otherwise it seemed smoother than on Christmas day.
As was the case on Christmas day, the others at Roy's house didn't think there was anything wrong with the bottles and even thought they showed pretty well. So I suspect that I was just experiencing an off palate on Christmas day... oh well, it happens once in a while.
Last edited by Glenn E. on Sun Dec 28, 2008 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Glenn Elliott
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Andy Velebil
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1980 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port
1980 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port:
I chose this one since it was this months Virtual Tasting. The color was a dark ruby with no fading. Although not showing its 28 years of age in the color, the nose was fully mature. Lots of soft flowers, licorise, and bing cherries. Athough full bodied, it was soft and had some bite to it. There was a lot of acidity to it, yet it was lacking the fruit on the palate to support it. That left the body just slightly out of balance. The finish was very long and full with some explosive cocoa beans. As time went on this started to fall apart and lost some of that grip that it had early on. I thought this VP had grown old without totally growing up. The first bottle of this I’ve had so I don’t know if this is typical of all the bottles or just this one. At its peak I gave it 90-91 points. 12/27/08
I chose this one since it was this months Virtual Tasting. The color was a dark ruby with no fading. Although not showing its 28 years of age in the color, the nose was fully mature. Lots of soft flowers, licorise, and bing cherries. Athough full bodied, it was soft and had some bite to it. There was a lot of acidity to it, yet it was lacking the fruit on the palate to support it. That left the body just slightly out of balance. The finish was very long and full with some explosive cocoa beans. As time went on this started to fall apart and lost some of that grip that it had early on. I thought this VP had grown old without totally growing up. The first bottle of this I’ve had so I don’t know if this is typical of all the bottles or just this one. At its peak I gave it 90-91 points. 12/27/08
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Todd Pettinger
- Posts: 2022
- Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:59 am
- Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
1980 Graham's VP
1980 Graham's Vintage Port
Decanted at 11:30 hrs for consumption after 6 hrs. Soft red in the glass with some signs of aging. The nose was soft but also somewhat vegetal. This blew off after 24 hours. The nose was primarily of softer, red fruits the one that stood out most was raspberries.
The soft fruits were complimented by a tannic structure that one could sense, but was not overly obtrusive. Fruits and some vanilla were present. Not a blockbuster at this stage, but with a solid foundation that indicated this VP had better days ahead of it. The palate was of red fruits, raspberries, bing cherries, some chocolate if you thought of it. Although Graham’s is known as a sweeter style, I did not find that with this bottle.
Much better after a full day of decanting. It is my humble opinion that this Port is still at least 10-15 years from approaching its peak and although drinkable now with around a day of decanting, will be better off if you wait at least a decade or more.
92+ pts
Decanted at 11:30 hrs for consumption after 6 hrs. Soft red in the glass with some signs of aging. The nose was soft but also somewhat vegetal. This blew off after 24 hours. The nose was primarily of softer, red fruits the one that stood out most was raspberries.
The soft fruits were complimented by a tannic structure that one could sense, but was not overly obtrusive. Fruits and some vanilla were present. Not a blockbuster at this stage, but with a solid foundation that indicated this VP had better days ahead of it. The palate was of red fruits, raspberries, bing cherries, some chocolate if you thought of it. Although Graham’s is known as a sweeter style, I did not find that with this bottle.
Much better after a full day of decanting. It is my humble opinion that this Port is still at least 10-15 years from approaching its peak and although drinkable now with around a day of decanting, will be better off if you wait at least a decade or more.
92+ pts
Re: December 2008 VT : 1980 Vintage Port
Fonseca 1980
A light red colour, transparent at the centre and showing pale on the rim. A sweet and attractive nose, smelling of candied rose petals and maraschino cherries. Sweet and mature in the mouth, in its perfect drinking window, with plenty of maraschino cherry and plenty of cedar wood complexity. Few (if any) tannins remain in the port, but there is a mature and ripe acidity in the wine giving plenty of structure. A big burst of flavour on the aftertaste stays big and full for a long time. Very pleasant and mature drinking with plenty of time before it starts to fade. 88/100. Drunk 5 December 2008.
A light red colour, transparent at the centre and showing pale on the rim. A sweet and attractive nose, smelling of candied rose petals and maraschino cherries. Sweet and mature in the mouth, in its perfect drinking window, with plenty of maraschino cherry and plenty of cedar wood complexity. Few (if any) tannins remain in the port, but there is a mature and ripe acidity in the wine giving plenty of structure. A big burst of flavour on the aftertaste stays big and full for a long time. Very pleasant and mature drinking with plenty of time before it starts to fade. 88/100. Drunk 5 December 2008.