2000 Royal Oporto Vintage Port

[Lamont Huxley]

I decided to open this one on Christmas and it's now been decanted nearly 36 hrs...

A dark purple port with ruby highlights. When I first opened this yesterday afternoon the nose was closed up and it took a long time before it started to come around. At this point it's still not particularly giving on the nose although there is some nice blackberry/raspberry fruit coming through as well as some black pepper. On the palate it starts off with a good dose of fairly sweet, dark, berry fruit with black pepper underneath but on the midpalate the fruit falls away abruptly leaving a finish dominated by spirit and chalky tannin. Has some tasty fruit in the forefront but lacks the structure to carry it. Fairly disappointing. 83 pts, Tasted 12/10