Decant: 24 hours - The last of the half bottles bought from Sainsbury in 2005? Very pale in colour and surprisingly little sediment came out of the bottle into the unbleached filter paper - most sediment remained in the bottle, despite this being an emergency decant. Straight out of the bottle, this was a very pale colour and stank of burnt rubber. Depressingly tainted by bottle stink. However, a few sips showed that this was still a lovely port.
After 24 hours in the decanter, the colour was still pale but had put on weight to become a glowing mahogany red-brown. The nose was much improved with no sign of the bottle stink, but a high toned spiritiness over a raspberry creme brulee. Restrained in the mouth, a touch of stewiness left over from the bottle stink, lots of raspberry and sweet cranberry in the mid-palate over a nice pine-sap flavoured tannic structure and lots of acidity. Delicious aftertaste, glowing from the heat but with lovely rose hips on the long length.
Overall, this is not a bad wine, but is not a blockbuster - pleasant enough and good as an emergency decant choice. 4/4. 89 points
TN: 1983 Dow Vintage Port
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