1985 Ferreira Vintage Port

[Eric Menchen]

Tasted blind. This is a little lighter in color than #1 (Ramos Pinto) tasted immediately prior, and a lot more orange brown in hue. There is a slight haze, but it has decent clarity. There is a little spirit on the nose, which is ever so slightly medicinal. There are also aromas of caramel, dried apple, rose petal, possibly rose hips, and dried strawberry. In the mouth, this is totally different from #1. This is warm and sugary with candied fruit, but much more candy than fruit. Warm and tawny-like in the finish, this could pass for a 10 or 20 year old tawny—a 15 year old! Brown sugar and tanginess carry through the medium finish. Later I tasted candied apricot and orange, and blood orange marmalade. The empty glass had a spicy aroma of cardamom. 93 points.

[Eric Menchen]

p.s. This is a case of scoring it for how I liked it, not scoring it as a VP. If you were really wanting a VP and tasted this, you would be disappointed.

[John M.]

p.s. This is a case of scoring it for how I liked it, not scoring it as a VP. If you were really wanting a VP and tasted this, you would be disappointed.

Nice codicil....and very apt. Thank you for the clarification.