For The Love Of Port

TN: 1986 Fonseca Guimaraens – Vintage Port (Douro, Portugal)


I saw this on sale in Costco a few weeks ago for about £15 per bottle. It was housed in a single wooden box, Perspex front face and a small decanting funnel as well. My first time trying this Port. Decanted using the Roy Hersh method, including the funnel and some cheese cloth. A deep strawberry red, pink rim with a hint of terracotta. Initially, a hint of alcohol on the nose and palate which distracted me from the ripe date fruit. After about 30 minutes, this had mostly integrated. The nose then gave off a herbal tea and cinnamon nuance. The slick palate was a seamless injection of medium bodied red plums, decent acidity, yet a fine streak of alcohol was present. A fully mature Port from a weak vintage. It was enjoyable and well worth the money. This bottle was finished within two hours, with a little help from my brother. 88/100.

Nicos,

Thanks for posting your note. I bought one of these wines a while back and have wondered what it would be like. I'll add it to my "drink soon" list.

Alex

I agree Nicos you came to the same conclusion I did.

Well, I did finally get round to opening this wine after having moved it onto my ""drink soon" list based on Nicos' earlier note. He's right, its a lovely wine drinking really well now. The tasting note below was taken after 2 hours in the decanter.

Deep colour, still looking quite young, perhaps a slight hint of brown - but that could easily be my imagination. An attractive nose of fresh galia melon and fresh figs. Quite dry and watery at first in the mouth, but then the sweetness comes through and a lovely figgy, midpalate develops with lots of fruit and a balanced acidity. The aftertaste burns for a while, but settles into a pleasant glow that gradually fades away while changing 5 or 6 times before it eventually vanishes. Very pleasant indeed, better than I was expecting. On Tom's scale, I'd rate this close to the median, but slightly below but I would expect that it will reach the median with a couple more years in the bottle - 4/5 or 90/100.