1985 Fonseca Vintage Port

Post by **Glenn E.** » Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:56 am

Social Distancing bottle #2!

(My first was an S. Leonardo 40 Year Old Tawny Port. Sorry, no TN for that one. It was great.

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I decanted at 11:00 am for drinking after dinner, which isn't going to be sufficient decant but I won't finish the bottle tonight anyway. The bottom 1/4" of the cork came off but was easily removed without dropping into the bottle. This bottle was bottled in Oporto and distributed by Mentzendorff & Co. Ltd. in London. The back label says it was shipped by Clink Vaults, Ltd. in London and imported by Julienne Import Co. in Chicago. Lots of people involved in getting this bottle to the USA!

I'll add more details later after I've fully tasted it. For now you get a snapshot!

Color: dark black cherry red, sort of a blend of garnet and dark magenta. Opaque center, but not inky. It appears to be very slightly hazy, but if you put a finger behind the glass it's actually crisply clear. The apparent haziness must be an optical illusion caused by the color.

Nose: red stone fruits something like black cherries, minerals, a vague meatiness, and then some very faint black licorice. Some very dark plum or possibly prune as well.

Palate: echoes the black cherries (but tart here) and vague meatiness from the nose. Very rich. Texturally fairly light, but flavor-wise very full. There's an overtone of light, almost ethereal blueberry floating above powerful red and purple berries. This is neither a baby like some bottles, nor expressing maturity like others. It seems caught between the two, but not in a bad or backwards way.

Finish: warm, long, and pleasant. Redder fruits than I expected, but on the dark end (i.e. very ripe). Lingers for many minutes.

Score: TBD. This pop-n-pour snapshot doesn't really scream Fonseca to me, but we'll see where it ends up.

Pictures!

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: 2020-04-03 10.57.56.jpg (199.5 KiB) Viewed 348 times

: 2020-04-03 10.58.11.jpg (178.38 KiB) Viewed 348 times

And the final notes (34 hours after opening, of which 11 was spent in a decanter then back in the bottle). These are combined notes from the initial pop-n-pour snapshot, a glass after 10 hours of decant, and then more the next evening. 10 hours was not sufficient decant time, though it could be described as fine. I still highly recommend 12+ for this Port, as it was best the next evening D+34. For a tasting the best decant regimen might be to decant the night before and leave it in decanter overnight, then put it back in the bottle the morning of the tasting (assuming an evening tasting).

Color: dark black cherry red, sort of a blend of garnet and dark magenta. Opaque center, but not inky. The haziness from the snapshot disappeared so I'm really not sure what it was. The black cherry red color really is an excellent description - it's like the skin of a very dark red cherry.

Nose: red stone fruits something like black cherries, some loganberries or mulberries, some minerals or stone, and then some very faint black licorice. Some very dark plum or possibly prune as well. A little more alcohol is showing after 36 hours, but it's aromatic and pleasant. There may be just the very faintest hint of VA, but if so it's so faint that it can't always be detected.

Palate: echoes the black cherries and purple bramble berries from the nose. Very rich. The light texture has deepened to medium, but flavor-wise it's still full. The fruits are now predominantly purple and very ripe - mulberries, loganberries, etc. It still seems caught between being a baby and a fully mature Port, but again not in a bad way. It's just neither at this point, though clearly trending toward mature. Tannins are best described as present - they're there, but neither distractingly powerful nor conspicuously faded. There's still so much fruit in this Port that the tannins may become relatively more prominent over the next 5-10 more years before eventually receding.

Finish: Still warm, long, and pleasant. As on the palate, the fruits have migrated to very ripe purple.

Score: 95 points. This bottle is much easier to drink (and therefore more pleasant to drink) than the ones that are still babies, but I feel like if it were more fully transitioned to mature that I'd like it better. So there's room for improvement of one or two points. While these are fantastic to drink today, I'd recommend holding a case or two for future drinking. They're not going anywhere for a couple of decades. I would be very surprised if the 1985 Fonseca is not the star of many tastings in 2035-2045 and beyond, assuming we don't drink all of it before then.