1985 Niepoort Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

From day 1 of the 1985 horizontal, 24-25 Jan 2015, Holiday Inn Issaquah. All Ports were tasted blind. Unless otherwise noted, Ports were decanted for ~4 hours the morning of the tasting. The ones that I decanted received ~8 hours of decant overnight and were then stoppered for another ~6 hours until the tasting.

1985 Niepoort Vintage Port
This is one of the bottles that I decanted on Friday evening.

Color: Dark garnet. Not opaque, but nicely dark.

Nose: Vague red fruits highlighted by something that I can only describe as lime. That's not quite right, but it captures the correct essence.

Palate: Lively. Not precisely light bodied, but it seems to dance around your mouth. Some tannins and good acidity. Generically fruity, so I guess that makes it relatively simple. Very pleasant, though. I'd not turn down an offered glass. There's some small potential for improvement, but likely one to drink up over the next 5 years.

Score: 87 points. I was surprised to find out that this was the Niepoort, as it didn't remind me of Niepoort at all. But by this point during the first day I was starting to get pretty fried.