1983 Quarles Harris Vintage Port

[Gerwin de Graaf]

Opened in celebration of my wife's birthday. Decanted for about 5,5 hours before taking the first glass.
Slight sign of some seepage (coloured selo).

Colour:
Even (light) cherryred colour, hardly any fading towards the edge of the glass.

Nose:
Ripe young red fruits, mainly cherry. Some light alcoholic tones, vanilla, wood tones (the actual material, besides the vanilla) and some spices (pepper comes to mind).

Taste:
Powerfull mouthfull of VP. Leather, some tobacco, dried red and yellow fruits (cherry again, also peach, mango and even pineapple). Again heat from the alcohol (quite persistent), and then followed by some orangepeel and liquorish. Not a lot of tannins left in this bottle.

Finish:
Again powerfull, dark tones and flavours of spices. Lasts for about 45 seconds.

Conclusion:
This bottle seems, though still (for me at least, who doesn't mind the power of the presence of alcohol in nose and taste) quite enjoyable, out of balance a little. It is not as accessable as it should be right now, because this bottle lacks (in my opinion) the tannins and fruit that it would need to be able to age long enough for the alcohol to integrate in this VP.
I'll give it 80-85 points.

Point of interest. On day two it had lost nothing whatsoever on the nose or palate (kept it overnight in the decanter with glass stop in about 11 degrees Celcius).

[Janet Ainsworth]

I've had this one a couple of times in the past couple of years, and I agree that it is too hot. The alcohol just overwhelms the rest of the package. I've found it improved considerably by chilling it to about 55-60 degrees--a bit cooler than I would generally want in a VP. But it does seem to tame the heat on this one.