For The Love Of Port

At the FTLOP Harvest Tour 2012 we had a tastng at the quinta of all vintage ports made under the Vale Meao brand by that time, which was an extremely interesting session. I gave the 2004 second best score after 2007. As I have purchased a few cases of the 2004 in Denmark, we must have had 7-8 bottles of this vintage over a three-year period, and the quality is very consistent. But please note the decanting time, which is very important.

Decanted 7.5 hrs (necessary with minimum 6 hrs). Dark red purple colour. Broad, fresh aroma of plenty fruit (blackcurrant). Full body. Elegant, powerful, silky, a bit dry towards the end. Very long finish. a quarter of the bottle stay over in closed bottle until the following evening, and was still showing very well. Nice vintage port from an “off-year”. 94 pts.

The 04s I've tasted have all been excellent, and this one was particularly good. I picked some of these up at auction a few years ago. Rune, given that you've had a few of these, albeit over a relatively short time span, have you noticed any evolution? And do you have a feel on the ageing potential?

Hi Paul!
This vintage port is now only 9.5 yrs and so far it has been very consistant.
I am not sure whether it will last 40 years, but lets say 15 more years without any problem, then it will be abt 25 yrs old.
Which means like a late 80s vintage today.

As it is generally priced lower than the 2003 Meao vintage port, the 2004 is a good purchase, better port for less money!