For The Love Of Port

Bottle #2 from a case purchased in December for $26.50/bottle.

Decanted at 3:00 pm for a party starting at 7:00 pm.

1985 Churchill Vintage Port

Color: deep garnet, some yellow near the rim.
Nose: strawberries, dust, and something similar to straw. Also an underlying rich sweetness.
Palate: strawberry and cranberry. Slightly hot; beyond just warm, but not offensive. Medium body, medium dry. Good acidity and decent tannins. Some spiciness... combined with the heat, almost seems like a Taylor Vargellas but lacking the depth to be a Taylor.
Finish: warm with a simple fruitiness. Good length. Some grape stem at the tail end.

Score: 87 points. Another mildly disappointing bottle, but only in relation to that single outstanding example I had in Paris. Otherwise excellent. Great QPR at $26.50.

2 days later this is growing on me. (I'd have finished it off last night except that I went to a movie.) I think it just needs a really long decant to fully hit its stride.

The hotness has subsided to where I'd just call it spicy and warm now. Everything else just seems to have integrated a bit better so that the overall effect is better than the sum of the parts. I'd probably bump it as high as 89 at this point.

I'll have to remember to decant the next bottle 24 hours in advance and see how that one turns out.