For The Love Of Port

1970 Fonseca - Vintage Port
Double decanted 10 hours earlier for 30 minutes, then decanted about 2 hours before we first drank it. I brought this as a last minute foil for Victor’s 1970 Nacional so that we could try the two best Ports of the 1970 vintage side by side. Dark strawberry red, black pepper and initially a hint of alcohol that need time to settle down. Bold raspberry fruit, fine acidity, lovely waves of dry dates. Absolutely stunning character, and quite feminine compared to the Nacional. 95 points.

I really liked the Fonseca 1970 but apparently, I had the lesser bottle after all the others had guzzled the good one. "The other one was much better" - gee thanks.

I see. So not content to wait until Sunday like I have to, you both go and guzzle your way through a bottle of Fonseca 1970.

And here's me having to wait to open a bottle because of all my travel plans....

Alex

Before I had the Fonseca 70 and 77 at the BBR tsting in August I had something against Fonseca. Mostly due to rubbish Bin 27, a rotten 10yo tawny and the LBV which was foul. I have a bottle of White Fonseca hanging around in its coffin waiting for me to put it out of its misery.

The 77 changed all that for me and the 70 was gorgeous despite being the last drop in the not-so-good bottle. I am now a Fonseca fan... as long as it's vintage.

Alex

Alex

Wait until you try the 63 and 66 Fonseca's. I've had the 66 and it was fabulous. I've never had either the 63 or the 70 and I'm really looking forward to them.

Alex

I understand tha tthe 63 is the babe of the vintage, so I'm really looking forward to that. I may disappear into a corner and huddle with it.

All of the aformentioned Fonseca´s are stellar VPs. I have had them all, many with Nicos too and the ONLY one, I am still trying to get my hands on that I have never tried is the rare 1927. Nobody seems to have any. :?

KillerB wrote:Alex

Before I had the Fonseca 70 and 77 at the BBR tsting in August I..........
and the 70 was gorgeous despite being the last drop in the not-so-good bottle. I am now a Fonseca fan... as long as it's vintage.

Alex

Interesting you say that. I had a Fonseca 70 at BBR last December and it was quite sublime. I don't go for the 100 point system, but if I did it would have been as close as I could get. Everyone thought it the wine of the night with some stiff competition. (Interestingly, though, I seem to remember it was a Justerinis bottling.) THis changed my view because.....

I had one the year before at a Wine Soc. tasting led by Paul Symington and Adrian Bridge and it was very flat. I don't think it was corked or oxidised, it just didn't inspire and showed badly against younger and supposedly lesser wines.

Stuart

There were two bottles of Fonseca 1970 and I could only get to the dregs of the second. It showed up well against everything but I was assured by everybody else present that the other bottle was better. There was also 1977 on show and I had tasted that first. Taking into account that the others were 1970 and 1977 bottles or mag of Taylor's, Dow's and Graham's, there was stiff competition. It was a hell of a tasting, which maybe surpassed on Sunday,

Alex

Just a slight correction, KillerB - but we had only one bottle of the '70 (a Morgan Furze bottling) and 2 bottles of the '77...

??????? Oh - it was the 1977 that everyone was raving about then? Thanks for putting me right Stevie. Things got a bit hazy.

When in doubt - check notes.

There was only one bottle of 1970 and it was my favourite bottle of the night. There were two bottles of 1977 both imported by BBR. The first disappeared in a matter of seconds and the second went slightly more slowly allowing me to get from the cheese board to the bottle before it emptied. I took some very scrappy notes as there were just too many people to talk to and too few hands.

Note on Fonseca 1970:

"My absolute favourite of the night. Little bit of bricking and lovely legs. Lots of floral notes on the nose and a lively wine. This has turned me on to Fonseca."

Indeed, the 77 was stunning.

I liked the 70 very much as well, but it was showing much older than the bottle I tasted some months before in Switzerland. That bottle was completely closed though, and the one at BBR was a joy to drink.