1970 Royal Oporto Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

Opened to take to a friend's house for a casual party. Another bottle from the batch I bought for $30 each, and so far they've been great QPR.

Decanted at 4:00 pm for the party at 6:00 pm. As usual, the cork broke in half due to the bottle design. I ended up with quite a bit of floating sediment because I didn't stand the bottle up before opening, but it is fairly heavy sediment so it should settle out over the next couple of hours before I pour it back into the bottle for transport.

1970 Royal Oporto Vintage Port

Color: Completely tawny. It's about as dark as a 20-year old, but there's very little red left so it's more the color of a 40-year old. Orange highlights.
Nose: Light and elegant. No primary fruit, and even the secondary fruits are faint. Alcohol is prominent but soft and sweet. Significant dust. The barest hint of orange marmalade.
Palate: Soft and sweet. Significant warmth, but not hot. Port jelly. Slightly caramelized simple syrup. Faint acidity and almost no tannins.
Finish: Very soft and sweet orange rind... could also be called orange marmalade. Surprisingly long - 2-3 minutes at least - but relatively weak. Very long tail of faint grape skin. Some sharpness due to alcohol.

Score: 83 points. It's good but not great. I don't note any obvious flaws other than the fact that it presents as 80+ years old, not 40 years old. Clearly past its peak, but enjoyable to drink and an interesting change of pace. Drink up.