For The Love Of Port

Since drinking this wine last - 8 years ago now - the color has certainly begun to show a little maturity. It's become a very pretty purple/raspberry hue at this point. The nose offers a very unique and intense bouquet of eucalyptus, coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and a prominent note of VA (not exactly desirable but it actually didn't dectract from the wine too much).

Fills the mouth with a full-bodied attack, though only moderately sweet, it dishes up a decidedly earthy palate of flavors - the eucalyptus and coffee characters on the nose are also apparent here, as well as cranberry, a strong medicinal cherry aspect, and notes of tar on the long finish. Although it's opened up a great deal since first tasted as a baby, this port still has a brawny tannic foundation and great depth on the palate that should carry it for a very long time to come. 95pts, Tasted 4/08

Lamont,

By coincident I had this VP Sunday in London. I am glad your bottle showed well in spite of some VA, which this is known for. Our bottle was one of worst I've ever had of this VP. It was full of massive amounts of VA, hot, bitter, and totally undrinkable. Luckily our gracious host pulled a fast one on us and served a back up Port double blind that was great, even without decanting...turned out to be the 1982 Niepoort VP.

Andy,

I've heard about the 97 having a major problem with VA - from this board in fact. It sounds like it was a lot more of a detracting factor with the bottle that you just drank as opposed to the one that I wrote my TN on (though I certainly would have preferred it not be there at all). I have a couple more bottles of it in my collection so I'm really hoping that they show well when I eventually do drink them, though it will probably be quite a long time before I find out.

I have 5 bottles of this left out of a 6-pack, and my notes show "aromatic alcohol" on the nose but no VA. Even though I don't mind a little VA in a VP, I hope the rest of my 6-pack is as good as the first bottle. Though I'll have to wait to find out - my notes tell me to wait 10 years before I try another one!