For The Love Of Port

I discovered much to my dismay that my 3rd fridge (an ArteVino from Costco) has failed. I was in the room to pick out a Port for gaming night at Lisa and Vic's, so pulled this bottle from the now-room-temp fridge. These were one of the first "large" purchase I ever made - directly from Roy. A whole 6 bottles. My how times have changed. There wasn't time to decant (it probably should have had ~4 hour), so this was served pop-and-pour.

1994 Broadbent Vintage Port

Color: Medium dark purple-red. Not opaque, but also nowhere near translucent. Somewhat redder than a California Cab or Oregon Pinot.

Nose: Some VA, which was expected due to past experiences with this Port (it was bottled by Niepoort). The VA was light and almost floral, so not off-putting at all. Some thought it blew off with time. Blueberry and tart purple brambles. Possibly something very faint and slightly green or stalky.

Palate: I thought pleasantly tart and on the dry side. Vic thought overly sweet. Skaff thought exceedingly acidic. For me, this was a more pleasant version of Noval Black which I find too tart and too dry. But otherwise the flavor profile seemed to fit - ripe raspberries, faint tart cherry, and some purple brambles. Clean, crisp finish. Not particularly complex (but also not simple), but that's not surprising to me as (IIRC) this was a blend of only two grapes.

Score: 89 points. Normally when I fall into the 85-89 range I'm thinking "eh, I'd rather have something nicer, but this is fine for now," but in this case I was happy to drink away. It's very pleasant and easy to drink... it's just not all that special. A superb daily quaffer, though less expensive bottles are readily available in the LBV category.

Tonight I’d pretty much just echo and duplicate your tasting notes on this one Glenn. I’m content with this tonight, but it doesn’t totally scratch the want for an aged VP experience.

This vintage would languish on liquor store shelves for years in my locale. Practically gave it away, yet I never bought one. Now, I haven't see it in a while.

Wow, I remember the very first time I ever tasted this, from one of the original cases that Broadbent ever opened. It was in Vancouver, where this Port was first shown to the public by Bartholomew. Canadian's had first crack at it and then afterwards, BB launched in the USA. It was simple then and I can't imagine it has gained much in the way of complexity. I remember the transaction in the QFC parking lot one of the first time's I ever met Glenn. What year was that?

Roy Hersh wrote:Wow, I remember the very first time I ever tasted this, from one of the original cases that Broadbent ever opened. It was in Vancouver, where this Port was first shown to the public by Bartholomew. Canadian's had first crack at it and then afterwards, BB launched in the USA. It was simple then and I can't imagine it has gained much in the way of complexity. I remember the transaction in the QFC parking lot one of the first time's I ever met Glenn. What year was that?

I remember that, too! $60/bottle, IIRC, and I still have some of them. We'll have to open one soon! That would have been ... 2008, I would guess? Maybe 2009?