1987 Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port

[Al B.]

Bought from Sainsbury's in the UK. Had been standing upright on the shelves for at least 10 months before purchase.

Decanted with extreme difficulty due to the sheer, impenetrable glass of the bottle. Nevertheless, decanted relatively cleanly off some fairly solid sludge. A lovely smell of blackberries as the wine went into the funnel. Extremely delicious right from the start, so much so that a glassful disappeared from the decanter in the first hour.

After 10 hours in the decanter, this note was taken. Nose full of plum juice, lifted with a touch of rose perfume and a hint of menthol all backed by a pleasant earthiness. Slightly hollow entry but develops well in the mid-palate. A sharp mintiness (like a mint humbug) sits behind a gentle sensation of stewed plums but the acidity is too dominating. The aftertaste is mild, chocolately and quite long with the tannins only showing in the dark chocolate finish. The alscohol also shows briefly in the finish but is otherwise well integrated. A pleasant wine showing close to the average I would expect of a vintage port but showing the ingredients for some further improvement in the next ten years, perhaps enough improvement to rate slightly above the average VP experience then. Tom scale rating of 5/6 or 89/100.

Interestingly, this wine was actually slightly more enjoyable when quaffed straight after decanting so I am expecting that it will improve with some further time in the decanter.

Alex

PS - drunk again on the Sunday night, 36 hours after decanting, this wine had pulled itself back together and was once again a well structured, fruity and enjoyable VP deserving an improved score of 90/100.

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