1987 Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Grapes: TINRA CAO, TINTA RORIZ, TOURIGA NACIONAL, TINTA AMARELA
Color: Deep red, not any brown here yet.
Nose: Dark berries, black currant, a lot of thinner aromas, not good.
Palate: Full bodied, medium concentration, good structure, but the thinner aromas here too.
Foodmatch: Nope
Cellaring: 10-20 years. Maybe the thinner aromas will disepear with storage, I am not sure.

Question!
Where can these thinner aromas come from? Is the wine in a closed stage, or is it a fault in the wine?

[Todd Pettinger]

Bjørn,

When you say thinner, I assume you are referring to a paint thinner/nail polish type of aroma?

This is likely VA, I had questions about this as well and found a great post which explained it very well.

Todd

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Todd.
Thanks very much for that thread.
Very informative. And yes I ment paint thinner, nail polish. :)
I think actualy this wine maybe was in a closed stage and maybe needed a lot of airtime, I tasted it at an expo and they did not decanter the wine before serving. The wine seemed in good shape and had a good balance if it werent for the VA.

[Todd Pettinger]

I tasted it at an expo and they did not decanter the wine before serving.

I seem to hear an awful lot of this. I suppose it depends on whether a representative from the producer is there, but I would expect to decant a decent amount of time prior to these types of expos. I would want my product to be showing its BEST for a tasting expo... not potentially turning people off.

Maybe this takes time and effort that is not worth it, but again, if wines/ports being sampled at expos were properly decanted/aerated within proper time periods and sampled prior to being made available to the public, this would help ensure the best side of the producer is being represented. It could eliminate corked bottles, excessive cases of VA, etc - all the undesirables that you don't want potential customers tasting and perhaps, being turned off of your product, by.

Just my two cents.

Todd

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Todd.
Very good point. I go to this expos all the time, due to my work. Sometimes the producers attend and then its more professional and thought behind, but most of the time its the importers that markets the wines and they always seems to be in a hurry. many thinks they are the center of the universe too. Not all of them of course.
If they would decant for a couple of hours, they could sell a lot probably, but with the nail polish in the nose and in my mind, I of course do not recommend the wine to our cistomers. Simple as that.

[Ronald Wortel]

A pity, because this is normally a very good port.

BTW, I usually find that the VA gets worse after decanting, instead of blowing off. If it's just a bit of heat, well that can blow off, but VA...

[Al B.]

Bjørn

My experience is that the '87 Guimaraens is that it is an excellent wine, although a little young at the moment. Its a wine that I would not hesitate to buy if on offer at a sensible price.

Did you raise the subject of the wine with the importer who was showing it? I had a similar debate a few months back with the UK importer for the Symingtons who was showing a bottle of 1970 Gould Campbell that was just full of bottle stink. He is trying to sell this wine to the people who were attending the tasting - so why on earth was he showing a flawed bottle? Surely better to not show the wine at all?

It does astonish me that importers and agents who are responsible for creating and growing a market will insist on showing bottles that are in poor condition and still expect their visitors to order the wines.

I just don't understand their thinking.

Alex

[Bjørn Tore Aastorp Ruud]

Alex.
Yes I did. They were arrogant and said the wine didnt have any faults. They got a little angry.
I actually experience from time to time that importers employ hip good looking people that have poor knowledge about the wines they are supposed to sell. I think in this case it was like this.
I think to make good relations and "friends" in the wine business, or any other business, you have to be quite honest, knowledgeful and genuinly a nice person. Sales technices and overcharming attitude will get you as far as your nose reaches.

[Todd Pettinger]

Well said Bjørn !

[Al B.]

Hear, hear.

I don't that there is a better sales approach as that demonstrated by Christian Seely, Dirk Niepoort, the Symingtons or a number of the other leading figures from the Port trade.

On the rare occasions when we have identified a poor bottle at their premises or where they have been showing the wines they have been only too happy to find a replacement. Often the fault in the wine was brought to our attention by the member of the firm opening the bottles.

This is the attitide that generates loyalty and trust, and I will happily take this opportunity to publicly thank again all those who treat us in this manner - we really appreciate it and it keeps us buying more of your products.

Thank you all.

Alex