Marty's Port Offering (Boston)

[Moses Botbol]

Dow 2000 Vintage Port
$67 net per 750ml bottle
$139 net per 1.5L bottle
94 points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
"An opaque blue/purple color (typical of this vintage's top offerings) is followed by a strikingly provocative aromatic display (flowers, licorice, blackberries, and cassis). This firmly-structured, classic, tightly-knit, restrained port exhibits brilliant purity as well as impressive intensity. While not the most dramatic or flamboyant, it is a beautiful, classically structured port that will age gracefully. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2030."

Dow 1994 Vintage Port
$80 net per 750ml bottle
96 points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
"The massive 1994 is unquestionably the finest Dow I have tasted since the 1977. This opaque purple-colored wine is not as developed or flamboyant as Fonseca, but it is super-concentrated and multi-layered, with huge masses of fruit and some tannin in the finish. This is a slightly drier style than Fonseca or Graham's, but it appears to be a classic, majestic, enormously constituted 1994 that should age effortlessly for three decades or more. It is one of the stars of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2030."

Fonseca 2000 Vintage Port
$85 net per 750ml bottle
95 points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
"Dense ruby/purple-colored, with an exotic, exuberant perfume of black fruits, flowers, incense, and licorice, this unctuously-textured, full-bodied port is one of the most concentrated of the vintage. Sweet, expansive, and succulent, this large-scaled, but remarkably well-balanced effort is surprisingly forward and accessible (by Fonseca's standards). Anticipated maturity: 2006-2025."

Taylor Fladgate 2003 Vintage Port
$99 net per 750ml bottle
98 points, Pierre Rovani, The Wine Advocate
"The 2003 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port improved each time I raised it to my nose or mouth. It displays a black color and a salty, graphite-laced nose packed with sweet black fruits that is reminiscent of a stellar vintage of Chateau Latour. With air, notes of molasses, burnt sugar, spices, and jammy plums emanate from the glass. Full-bodied, hugely dense, immensely rich, as well as thick, this behemoth is also amazingly balanced and harmonious. Raisins, molasses, licorice, black cherries, plums, and a distinctive note of violets are found in its complex, seamless character. Its interminable finish reveals additional notes of chocolate, kirsch, red as well as black currants, dark cherries, and rose blossoms. Armed with exceptional power, depth, and purity, this Taylor will proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest ever crafted by the Fladgate Partnership. Projected maturity: 2035-2060."

Taylor Fladgate 2000 Vintage Port
$85 net per 750ml bottle
98 points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
"Among the most saturated blue/purple/black-colored examples of the vintage, Taylor's 2000 tastes like a young vintage of Chateau Latour on steroids. Aromas of graphite, blackberry liqueur, creme de cassis and smoke jump from the glass. Spectacularly concentrated and enormously endowed, with sweetness allied to ripe tannin, decent acidity, and layer upon layer of fruit and extract, this is the leading candidate for the port of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040."

Marty's
675 Washington St.
Newton, MA 02458 USA
(617) 332-1230

[Roy Hersh]

A nice selection, fine tasting notes, reasonable scores but those prices, yikes! Besides you should warn people that Marty's won't ship.