1985 Fonseca Vintage Port

[Glenn E.]

From day 2 of the 1985 horizontal, 24-25 Jan 2015, Holiday Inn Issaquah. All Ports were tasted blind. Unless otherwise noted, Ports were decanted for ~4 hours the morning of the tasting. The ones that I decanted received ~8 hours of decant overnight and were then stoppered for another ~6 hours until the tasting.

1985 Fonseca Vintage Port
A second bottle provided by Roy since the bottle on Day 1 didn't seem up to par.

Color: Dark purple with an opaque center. Equally as dark, but bluer than #9 (Warre).

Nose: Rich grape. Very young nose, exuberant. Almost lodgey, but really just old enough for that to not quite apply.

Palate: Fruity, very tannic, and well-balanced acidity. Rich and very purple. Lots of blackberry, too. Also lots of black currant. Needs 10 years, then check again.

Score: 95+ points. I guessed this was a Fonseca despite it already having been in the lineup on Day 1. I did know that Roy had added a "ringer" to the Day 2 lineup, but didn't know what it was (though I had my suspicions). This is what you expect from a 1985 Fonseca - put it away and come back in 10 years, and fully expect it to need another 5-10 years at that time. Truly a bruiser of a Port and one that will live for decades.