2004 Royal Oporto Vintage Port

[Lamont Huxley]

From a 1/2 bottle with approx. 16hrs decant time:

A clear, dark plum at the center with a bright red/purple rim. The nose is still not giving up a whole lot, but it has changed from the primary grape jelly tones it had last night to show some subdued, jammy, blue and black berry notes and a touch of gingerbread today - nice but obviously needs time to develop. On entry offers very tasty blackberry/cherry fruit, medium weight with good concentration. The fruit carries through well on the mid-palate with just a bit of spirit sticking out but being balanced by plenty of acidity and a respectably long and smooth finish - quite firm tannins as well. I'm impressed. 88 pts

This is not a huge port but it's well put together and needs some years in the bottle to flesh out. At the moment it's a bit one-dimensional but very tasty. Should be a very decent early-mid range VP, I'm guessing over the 10-15, maybe 20 yr range. At the price that I found it for ($9.99 for a 375ml bottle) it's a steal. I'll be going back for at least a few more of these to hold for the future.