TN: 1997 Berry Brothers Vintage Port

[Al B.]

Decant: 1 hour - Chosen to fit with the FTLOP virtual offline theme for this month, from a half bottle made - curiously - from pale brown glass. Still deeply coloured but with a centre that is now transparent and just a vague hint that this is starting to come out of its teenage angst. A lovely, fruity nose chock full of blackcurrants, surprising in its youthfulness. Fantastic balance in the mouth, masses of fruit but a steely tannic structure never lets the bouncy fruit get out of control. Such fantastic complexity in the mouth with all the components playing well together. Swallowing releases a huge aftertaste that is dominated by a dark chocolate from the ripe tannin that lasts a very long time. This is really super port which will be quite fantastic in another 10-20 years. 92 points