For The Love Of Port

1983 Niepoort Colheita (bottled 1996).

Fonseca 85

This wine has been on such a journey over the past decade - it's tannic wall that gave it so much promise has almost completely crumbled.

But what remains? Much more in the Fonseca style than the atypical F80 and F83, but is this the natural successor to the classic Fonseca's of old? Not really. A bit soft and lacking in purpose, it's a good wine and still one of the better 85's, but not, I think, the pillar of excellence that was expected.

Score 6-7

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 10:25 am Fonseca 85

This wine has been on such a journey over the past decade - it's tannic wall that gave it so much promise has almost completely crumbled.

But what remains? Much more in the Fonseca style than the atypical F80 and F83, but is this the natural successor to the classic Fonseca's of old? Not really. A bit soft and lacking in purpose, it's a good wine and still one of the better 85's, but not, I think, the pillar of excellence that was expected.

Score 6-7

I've had it... 4-5 times in the last year? Those bottles seem to indicate that F85 is at a tipping point between "still youthful" and "nicely mature," as some have been in each category. The "still youthful" bottles still remind me of the F85s of old - they're big and beastly, though somewhat softer now at 35 years old. The "nicely mature" bottles have aged past that tipping point and are beautiful, round, luscious Ports that remind me very much of a somewhat younger version of F70 and/or F77. There was also 1 bottle that seemed to on the tipping point, as it seemed confused and slightly disjointed. It wasn't quite a big bruiser like the youthful bottles, but it also wasn't quite nicely mature yet and so seemed lacking compared to the others. But I attributed that to the fact that it seemed to be transitioning between the states of the other bottles, not because it was actually lacking in any way.

I.e. my experiences in the last year indicate that F85 is still very much on the correct path to be the pillar of excellence that we've all been expecting, assuming you consider F70 and F77 to be in that category.

my experiences in the last year indicate that F85 is still very much on the correct path to be the pillar of excellence that we've all been expecting

Well, I hope to be proven wrong - not least since I have another 3 dozen bottles and an Imperial to get through!

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 10:57 am

my experiences in the last year indicate that F85 is still very much on the correct path to be the pillar of excellence that we've all been expecting

Well, I hope to be proven wrong - not least since I have another 3 dozen bottles and an Imperial to get through!

Ooh... that Imperial should be amazing! Have you planned when you're going to open it?

And more on topic, I was gifted 2 bottles this week: a DR 10 Year Old and a 1989 Kopke Colheita. Both allegedly very slightly corked.

It's so rare to encounter a corked tawny in the first place, but to encounter 2 in a row, both with t-stoppers, is pretty incredible.

Ooh... that Imperial should be amazing! Have you planned when you're going to open it?

Currently scheduled for Saturday, November 5th, 2044.

For Thanksgiving, we opened a bottle of the S. Leonardo 30yo Tawny.

Just had F85 less than a week ago. Was hotter than I remember. Still plenty of dark fruit and power.

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 11:55 am

Ooh... that Imperial should be amazing! Have you planned when you're going to open it?

Currently scheduled for Saturday, November 5th, 2044.

Where?

Moses Botbol wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:18 pm

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 11:55 am

Ooh... that Imperial should be amazing! Have you planned when you're going to open it?

Currently scheduled for Saturday, November 5th, 2044.

Where?

I, too, am available on that date.

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 11:55 am Currently scheduled for Saturday, November 5th, 2044.

I marked my calendar. In the theme, I have some Fonseca magnums I could bring to a tasting. No imperials in the cellar at this time, but I have some time to run one down I suppose. (Side note: press G in Google calendar to jump to a date.)

Had an oddball ports last night, 1985 Robertson's. Really great port actually. Tons of fruit and well balanced. All sorts of different floral notes and pleasant tangerine flavors. An easy 92+ port. Not sure if I had this vintage previously.

The '83 Cockburn had the TCA. Did the cellophane hack which reduced it significantly, but was still present. Didn't stop me from drinking it!

1992 Taylors

Eric Ifune wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:45 pm 1992 Taylors

What a great port! Much better than the '94 version in my opinion.

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 10:57 am Well, I hope to be proven wrong - not least since I have another 3 dozen bottles and an Imperial to get through!

I hope so too! I have many cases of this. Time to open one up!

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 8:37 pm

Eric Ifune wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:45 pm 1992 Taylors

What a great port! Much better than the '94 version in my opinion.

Great minds think alike! I love both of them, but year after year I prefer the 1992.

Excellent stuff, if a bit too young for my tastes.

1970 Quarles Harris VP. Lovely drinking port. A little on the simple side. Not much heat and it still has plenty of life in it.

Nice, Moses. That seems like a reasonably accurate description of Quarles Harris in general, though I think I've only had '77, '94, and '11 (which is obviously very young). But they were all lovely if a tad simpler than Ports from the bigger names.