2002 Warre Late Bottled Vintage Porto

[John Trombley]

This is a note on the 2002 Warre's Late Bottled Vintage Unfiltered, bottled 2006, marketed about 2010.

Cork-finished. Not decanted, but tasted in a Riedel Zin. $25.99; Kroger's Marketplace, Toy, OH.

About 2 mm of fading on the rim; color violet, red tinges, little or no bricking. Typical Warre's monolithic plum scents, with a slight vanillin air about it. Opens to show some rose-water and powdered sugar, after a few hours adding bacon and mild charcoal smoke.

Entry noticeably energetic, with moderated sweetness--the 'dryness' typical of Warre. Tannins have softened, finish with a twist of orange bitterness; not a hint of spirit. Texture is unusually soft and caressing, but by no means is it flavorless; hitting on all the cylinders. However, as it opens, it gets more tannic, grippy, leafy, almost stemmy, which is in my experience typical of this series. Some would say that its grip has a slight, characteristic greenness which is not a fault but a part of the style. At first I thought it had peaked but it has room to grow in cellar. Drink 2020-2027, at least. Overall has the slight rusticity, dark fruit, restrained sweetness. and good grip of the Warre's house style, and this reminds me of the 1982, that really blossomed at about 25 years. If you like the style, you'll love this at maturity. 91+?/100.

At about 6 hours the fruit springs to life and becomes anything but monolithic, showing blackcurrant, thyme, perhaps blueberry in addition to the above on both nose and palate; its inherent energy comes to life; and as this happened, the inherent fluidity of the wine reappears without lessening its savory tannins. This is the time to start drinking this wine at present; leave it in the decanter for a minimum 6 hours if you're opening it now. Superb value.

The Impitoyable emphasizes the leaf, wood, and wood-smoke on the nose, especially on the second day, and the energy on the palate. Again, not a trace of spirit; completely integrated at this point.

On the second day is basically holding well. I'd guess the best performance for this right now is 6-24 hours after opening, if you don't decant.

Had a little Tuxford and Tebbetts Stilton (Murray's), so I indulged. Excellent but it fights just a little with all that fruit; not a surprise since you do better with tawny styles with this cheese, where the fruit has been integrated or removed by wood contact.