1970 Fonseca Vintage Port

[Miguel Simoes]

1970 Fonseca Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto (12/30/2013)
Fantastic. Thinking I finally get all the fuss about old VP.

The finish was the best I have got out of VP yet, several notches above that of the G70 we opened over Xmas. Almond flavors along the way, long lasting.

Was surprised by the color. It was light brownish, perfectly translucid. Expected it to be of a livelier red in color, the G70 certainly was. There were tons of sediment, was impressed. The bottle was in perfect condition. No seepage, the cork was some 80% soaked and came out almost entirely in one go.

We had it at dessert w a cheesecake based birthday cake and the combo was perfect. The F70 showed a little peppery start and decent acidity that paired wonderfully w the denser/heavier cheesecake. No fruit showing anymore.

Comparing it w an aged tawny, felt less viscous in the mouth, not as stuffy in style. The flavors are similarly wonderful but the vehicle appeared a better one.

Tasting some leftover F70 side-by-side w a glass of Ferreira 20 Yr now. The Ferreira appears almost primary by comparison. Still some fruit showing on it, much sweeter, and the finish (wonderful, if a little overwhelming) only appearing a little later after swallowing it. The Fonseca though has an elegance that is wonderful - not as sweet, not as thick, almost fragile - an elegance that carries smoothly from the start in mouth to the nice long finish (still going minutes after initially wrote this paragraph). I get it now one sells in the low 40s and the other in the 120-145 range... (96 pts.)

[Moses Botbol]

Both are respective front runners for what they are.