1984 Smith Woodhouse LBV Port -- Unfiltered (B.1988)

[Al B.]

A freshly labelled and "sello-ed" bottle that looks to have been a recent ex-cellars release. Decanted off a large amount of heavy sediment. Noted that the wine was bottled in 1988 so only 1 year later than would have qualified to be released as a vintage port. Ruby red in colour, turning orange at the rim. Some bottle stink at first but this blew off over the evening and revealed some lovely raspberry juice although the alcohol was a little unintegrated. Sweet entry and plenty of body with lots of the liquorice you would expect in a bottle in is secondary stages of life, some contamination from the bottle stink flavours but this faded over the evening. Plenty going on in the mid-palate. The length is good and interesting, showing nice Angostura Bitters or Quinine tones that last quite a while after a bit of heat on first swallowing. The mid-palate and aftertaste are strong features of this wine. My wine of the night. 91/100.

[Andy Velebil]

This was served blind. After all we gotta through a curve ball in there somewhere right? A solid red center with some slight fading at the edges. A touch of bottle stink at first, which blew off. The palate shows some lively red raspberry fruit. Its meduim bodied and sweet strawberries made this quite the hit at the table. Not to mention the guesses of early 1990's vintage Port or a younger LBV (Jason and Alex R. were getting warm at least). The finish on this was quite long. I must say this really impresses me, and I dare say the rest of the table too. 92 points.