1994 Quinta do Passaduoro Vintage Port

[John Danza]

This wine is bottled by Niepoort, but is definitely not their standard VP bottling.

The wine was tasted after being double decanted (once into the decanter, then put back in the bottle for transportation after rinsing the bottle with ruby port), with the tasting occuring 3 hours after the decanting.
The wine is a bit one-dimensional. The color is a medium red with a bit of browning on the edge, show much more age than expected for only 13 years old and being from a great vintage. The nose is primarily cherries. The palate immediately exhibits chocolate covered cherries with noticable alcohol that gives the wine a little bit of a frizzante-type of mouthfeel. The alcohol's not hot, just a bit biting.

The wine was inexpensive, which is appropriate.

All the best,
John

[Roy Hersh]

Ouch! Scathing but I don't doubt your accuracy. I have not had one of these in years and only own a pair and choose to wait much longer. But from your description John, that does not sound like a smart strategy. Have you had this before? Thanks for the note!

My only other thought is that with eight hours of decanting, would this have shown much better than with only 3 for such a youngster?

[John Danza]

I had gotten a report that this wine was pretty light for a 1994, so I only gave it the 3 hours after the double decant. I'm not sure that any more time would have helped it.

[Lamont Huxley]

I had the Passadouro 94 a number of years ago, probably 6 to 8 years ago by now, and though I can't find my notes on it, I do remember my general impression. I also found it quite one-dimensional, on the light side, and frankly disappointing, especially considering the fact that it was coming from Niepoort. On the other hand, I also drank several bottles of the Passadouro 95 LBV around that same time which I thought was a fantastic bargain. It was almost like a baby Niepoort VP - really dark, earthy, and complex with big tannins. I wish I had kept a bottle or two of that for the cellar!