1978 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port

[Andy Velebil]

I took this bottle with me to enjoy while on a mini-vacation up in the mountains east of Los Angeles. I had decanted it before I left on Sunday and started to sip this about 7 hours later, and then enjoyed it over the course of two nights. Don't think I only had this one bottle of Port, as I also took along plenty of dry wines to satisfy my thirst after some hard bike riding and hiking in the mountains.

This bottle still had an excellent dark ruby color for a SQVP 30 years old. The nose showed lots of strawberries, some soft flowers, and some heat at first. An interesting bottle as although it showed very little heat on the palate and lots of white cherries and some mocha, the finish was like drinking raw brandy. It was quite distracting and a turn off the first night. By the second night it had completely changed. The heat was almost totally gone and left the white cherries, strawberries, and some milk chocolate to shine. What started out a dissapointment turned into a wonderful bottle on the second night. If this bottle is representative I've give this a very long decant so it mellows and pulls together. 90 points.
03/30/09

[Roy Hersh]

Nice to see a note on the '78, although I enjoy a couple of others from this vintage ... good to hear this came around the 2nd night to provide some drinking pleasure. Nothing (except TCA) to ruin a fun VP like a fiery finish.

[Andy Velebil]

As you know I can be a tad sensitive at times to heat, but that really was one hot finish. I too was glad it came around and ended up being a nice bottle. It was really strange that the palate wasn't that hot, yet the finish was like fire.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

Thank's for the tasting note. I've tried Bomfim always at his early years and I do like it. It's nice to ear that it's also nice with many years.