1987 Souza Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

From the FTLOP purchasing opportunity. Opened for Valentine's Day dinner a day early. I decanted at 5:00, re-bottled at 6:00, and we drank it between 7:00 and 8:30. These bottles are dirty and show their age, but the Port inside is pristine. My only real gripe is the "wax" coating over the capsule which is that hard wax/plastic that chips and shatters into thousands of little bits when you try to remove it to get at the cork. Oh well, it's a small price to pay.

1987 Porto Souza Vintage Port

Color: Dark red/purple, possibly opaque center (difficult to tell in restaurant lighting). The color reminds me of dark red ripe cherries.

Nose: Rich and very slightly tart red cherry, possibly some plum, definitely a little bit of red raspberry, and some cassis. There's some spirit, but it doesn't interfere.

Palate: Needs a longer decant! Probably should have had at least 6-8 hours. Not especially sweet, but sweet enough. Dark red tart cherry with a very "stone fruit" overtone almost like you're tasting an echo of the pit. Some huckleberry and boysenberry. A little bit rough with very mild heat, but mellows and smooths out with time in the glass. Good tannins and excellent acidity. Needs another 5-10 years and will probably last for another 20

Score: 93+ points. Even adjusting for the lack of decant, I can't really move this into the outstanding range right now. I do expect it to get there, though, and it probably won't take that long for it to happen. For a producer that I'd never heard of prior to the FTLOP buying opportunity, this is really an amazing Port. But do be sure to give it a nice long decant if you're going to drink one now.

[John M.]

Tasted all four FTLOP Souza's back in May and the 1987 was the sweetest! I too was very pleased with these, really quite good for an under the radar port.

[Gary Richardson]

Very similar to my impressions of these Ports. My bottles were filthy (and still are ... I never clean them), but the Port inside is delicious. I hope you are right about these having another 20 years ahead of them. I would have given them another 10 ... but I will drink what I have long before then, anyway. I am about 1/3 of the way through the 2 cases I bought. The quality of the Port far surpasses the price I paid in the buyers' opportunity.