For The Love Of Port

Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port [1976]

An ex-cellars bottle flown to Edmonton from the Fonseca lodge in Portugal by none other than Jorge Ramos himself from the Taylor Fladgate Partnership, this Port showed exceptionally.

Massive dark colour, dark purple, almost black in the center and fully opaque. Amazing, huge nose that almost reached up out of the glass a slapped you. This Port appeared to have been vinified just last week.

Balanced palate, super elegant. If you look up “opulence” in the dictionary, you are sure to find a picture of this VP sitting right there staring up at you. Massive amounts of black fruits: berries, cherries, black currants, blackberries and deep, rich grapes on the palate, but so young, fresh and vibrant. I noted just a touch of protruding alcohol on the extreme finish. Having only been decanted for 4-5 hours by the time I was trying this leads me to believe this one could have used a bit more decanting time but overall, the alcohol was generally well-integrated. Tannins were obviously present by the firm grip this Port showed but kept in check and perfect balance. The grip reminded me of a Taylor VP, but without the spicy peppery notes typically associated with Taylor VPs. In other words: almost perfection!

Complex, rich, opulent, beautiful, damn near perfection… WOW.

My score: 98-99 pts

Some years ago at a tasting a number of us thought that the '76 Guimaraens was more backwards than the '77 Fonseca, and had a longer future ahead. Naturally the Fonseca representative thought otherwise. I'm wondering what other people think about the difference between the two.

Anyway, we all agreed the '76 Fonseca was a fine port and wanted to know when it would arrive in Edmonton and how much it would cost. When it arrived a few months later (2003/04) most stores carried it at C$75-80. I think most people in my wine circle bought in.

Mahmoud

Interestingly enough, there were two of these bottles poured and the difference between the two was significant - I initially had the "lesser" bottle and it was a pale shadow of what I'd come to expect from this wine on based on the six or so times I've tried it - this bottle was slightly "muddy" throughout - color, nose and palate - lacking delineation, intensity, and clean fruit. The second bottle was as good as this wine has ever been, in my experience - still benefits from significant decanting which was apparent both as it lingered in the glass and several hours later when re-tasted - intense, broad and deep, raisins, spices, molasses, alcohol well-integrated, mildly sweet, solid length - not quite 98pts in my book (I know it's your birth vintage Todd . . .) but excellent stuff - 94-95 points.

Todd,

I totally agree with you. The 1976 Fonsca Guimaraens is "cult"!
Still so very dark and explosive - still so much fresh fruit - still so powerfull - so seductive...

The "life" of the Guimaraens 1976 makes no sense. Most rules of "port logic" cannot be refered to talking about this port. :wall:
It's massive - impressive - just love it - I agree -> 98-99 points.

Standing by the guillotine - this is the port that would be my last image

Best regards
Henrik Lilja

This sounds like a real, off-the-beaten-path gem. It's too bad that wine-searcher and vinquire aren't showing any bottles available here in the States... Enjoy it for me!