1987 Barros de Zeller Vintage Port

[Todd Pettinger]

I'm excited - I get to participate in my first Virtual Tasting! :) My TN posted in another thread was quite a unique experience. Cristiano van Zeller himself was pouring the Barros de Zellaer Vintage Port - 1987
For this entry I'll include an abbreviated tasting note. You can follow the link to view the full story if you have not seen "A Unique Tasting Experience" already.

-few hours in a decanter may have done this port a better justice, small amounts swirled rigorously in our glasses for 30-45 minutes certainly did a decent job of opening this beauty up.

-fresh, yet mellow nose, hints of blueberries, blackberries and a strong influence of licorice, hint of pipe tobacco, slight presence of a floral aroma, very elegant.

-softer red colour than I have seen in my previous two VPs, thought that it might be approaching a tawny age/colour

-taste yielded fresh berry notes, still young, with a very slight twinge of alcohol, no strong tannins present, and I wrote down "amazing that even freshly decanted, the port is exceptionally mellow and smooth."
-small hint of alcohol present on the back of the palate, not strong and overpowering

-After 30 minutes the alcohol seemed to disappear completely, integrating itself, licorice nose had disappeared, being replaced with a less vibrant fruit nose, smoothness resembled that of a Tawny, but with a youthfulness that reminded me that it was indeed not tawny but a much more fruit-intensive wine.

This port is drinking amazingly well right now. I would feel confident opening 375 or 750s. I also believe that the smoothness has the ability to stick around for at least a decade and may even become finer with greater aging.

I rate this a 7-8 on the Tom scale.
My only complaint is that I had to leave as I was on call and got paged, but not before I purchased a bottle of this exceptional port to open at home. I would like to see the effect that greater decanter time has on the wine.

Todd

This tasting note is one of several related tasting notes. Click [here] to see the original note in context.