2000 Fonseca LBV Port

[Eric Menchen]

This was decanted and then poured pretty much immediately, and then first sampled after about an hour in the glass. My notes which follow, however, are from two days later. In the interim, the decanter was stored in the refrigerator. I poured a glass from the decanter and allowed the glass to warm up to cellar temperature, or maybe slightly warmer.

Color was deep burgundy and very solid in the glass. It was lighter at the rim and showed 5-10% brown, but not what I would call bricking. My first thought on the aroma was pleasant brandy alcohol, then berry fruit and more particularly blackberry jam. In the mouth, my first thought is "Yum." There is a lot of fruit here, with medium and then light tannin. Alcohol showed up in the medium finish. On the sweet side, no acid nor enough tannins ever showed up to balance the fruit.

Did two days in the decanter throw this one out of whack? I don't know, but if my sampling was representative, I wouldn't seek this one out again.

[Andy Velebil]

Your TN is what I remember the other odd handful of Fonseca LBV's I've tasted were like. I'm not a fan of them, but they are generally priced at a good point and for a filtered LBV it is serviceable for the right group.