TN: 1985 Dow Vintage Port
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 12:13 am
Decant: 4 hours - After having tasted a couple of '85s recently that were showing signs of having aged faster than I would have expected, I decided that it was time to revisit this wine. This decanted cleanly off the sediment, although this bottle was also pitch black and impossible to see through.
At the time of taking the tasting note, the wine was a deep centred ruby red, with a slight paling at the rim. The nose was dominated by mint from the alcohol but underneath that was a lovely, dusty, ripe bramble and floral scent. The wine had a dry entry but with plenty of fruit and with huge acidity giving a pleasant bitterness complexity, like adding Angostura Bitters to a cocktail. Good development on the midpalate yielding a nice, creamy back cherry yoghurt sensation. Aftertaste is gentle and subdued, but lasts a fair time as a tannin led bitter chocolate sensation. Overall a reasonable wine that was probably better a couple of hours after taking this note but which was nowhere near as good as the bottle I had in June of this year but I still have the impression that this wine will get much better with time. 3-5. 86 points
At the time of taking the tasting note, the wine was a deep centred ruby red, with a slight paling at the rim. The nose was dominated by mint from the alcohol but underneath that was a lovely, dusty, ripe bramble and floral scent. The wine had a dry entry but with plenty of fruit and with huge acidity giving a pleasant bitterness complexity, like adding Angostura Bitters to a cocktail. Good development on the midpalate yielding a nice, creamy back cherry yoghurt sensation. Aftertaste is gentle and subdued, but lasts a fair time as a tannin led bitter chocolate sensation. Overall a reasonable wine that was probably better a couple of hours after taking this note but which was nowhere near as good as the bottle I had in June of this year but I still have the impression that this wine will get much better with time. 3-5. 86 points