1984 Smith Woodhouse LBV Port
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 4:13 pm
Copied from the May 2008 Virtual Tasting thread.
After a long hot day at work I decided to throw caution to the wind and open this bottle. Since this week is very busy with lots of oevertime at work, and I won't be up all night seeing how this evolves, I thought it would be fun to chart how this does over the next few days. I'll leave it in the decanter for the duration.
1984 Smith Woodhouse Unfiltered LBV Port (bottled in 1988)
Upon opening:
OK, this cork looks like its only 4-5 years old. Just shows you what good storage does, as this bottle is a recent ex-cellars release. I should be getting a new camera tomorrow, so I'll post a pic of it later. Looks a bit like cherry cough medicine...ok, I'll stick to better comparisions, how about a basic tawny color. Bright red color that is fairly consistant throughout with only the slightest brinking at the very edge. The color looks like its holding up well, considering this was probably never super dark squid ink to begin with. The nose has a lot of perfume, pomegranate, some eucalyptis, and some unintegrate heat that just needs more decanter time to integrate. The palate is medium bodied, with lots of alcohol showing at this point. but again, it was just decanted so gotta give it time folks. There is also some menthol, cranberries, and pepper that precedes a moderately long finish. It tastes promising so far and it will be fun to see where this goes....or not goes.
DAY 2
Sometimes the best laid plans don't work. right after I posted the above note a friend of mine called and said he was in the area. He stopped by and, like anyone that comes to my house, Port was served...as this was just opened it was good timing. We polished off most of it, with only a couple small glasses left in the decanter.
Today it is only a fraction darker and there isn't really much noticable change...except it has smoothed out a bit on the palate. The tannins are fully resolved and there has to be the most acidity I've ever had in a LBV Port. The previous bottle I had was a little better than this one, but I guess a little bottle variation in a 24 year old LBV is to be expected. 87 points.
05/15/08
After a long hot day at work I decided to throw caution to the wind and open this bottle. Since this week is very busy with lots of oevertime at work, and I won't be up all night seeing how this evolves, I thought it would be fun to chart how this does over the next few days. I'll leave it in the decanter for the duration.
1984 Smith Woodhouse Unfiltered LBV Port (bottled in 1988)
Upon opening:
OK, this cork looks like its only 4-5 years old. Just shows you what good storage does, as this bottle is a recent ex-cellars release. I should be getting a new camera tomorrow, so I'll post a pic of it later. Looks a bit like cherry cough medicine...ok, I'll stick to better comparisions, how about a basic tawny color. Bright red color that is fairly consistant throughout with only the slightest brinking at the very edge. The color looks like its holding up well, considering this was probably never super dark squid ink to begin with. The nose has a lot of perfume, pomegranate, some eucalyptis, and some unintegrate heat that just needs more decanter time to integrate. The palate is medium bodied, with lots of alcohol showing at this point. but again, it was just decanted so gotta give it time folks. There is also some menthol, cranberries, and pepper that precedes a moderately long finish. It tastes promising so far and it will be fun to see where this goes....or not goes.
DAY 2
Sometimes the best laid plans don't work. right after I posted the above note a friend of mine called and said he was in the area. He stopped by and, like anyone that comes to my house, Port was served...as this was just opened it was good timing. We polished off most of it, with only a couple small glasses left in the decanter.
Today it is only a fraction darker and there isn't really much noticable change...except it has smoothed out a bit on the palate. The tannins are fully resolved and there has to be the most acidity I've ever had in a LBV Port. The previous bottle I had was a little better than this one, but I guess a little bottle variation in a 24 year old LBV is to be expected. 87 points.
05/15/08