For The Love Of Port

Hi! I opened up and decanted a Rozes 2003 LBV 4 days ago. Everything went well, no sediment in the decanter. It tasted lovely, aroma was great too. Drank half the bottle in the first 2 days, and didn´t have any until today. Kept it slightly below room temperature. Now, when I pour a glass, there is a distinct foul smell that reminds me of rotten fruit. The smell subsides a bit after 20-30 minutes. After that, it doesn´t taste bad, but the magic from the first two days is completely missing. It feels like I´m drinking a completely different wine.

As a newbie to port, and so far mainly a tawny fan, I never had this experience before. Is it normal? Shouldn´t it be OK at least a week? Can someone shed light on what might have happened to the wine? Thanks.

Sounds tainted...did it smell like wet cardboard?

Hmm, can't say I've run across exactly what you're describing so not really sure what the issue could have been. Though a random guess....maybe it was cooked while in transit or storage at some point and with a couple days of air that stewed fruit really started to show itself.

That's pretty strange. Normally I would expect anything that's going to show after 4 days to already be present at 2 days as well. It can sometimes take a couple of hours - or even several - for a bad reaction to take place, but to me it seems extremely unusual that the Port still "had the magic" after 2 days open but then suddenly developed a rotten fruit aroma after 2 more days. Especially when that aroma seems to subside after 20-30 minutes.

Could it be some sort of bacterial infection? I don't have a lot of experience with those...

Residual in the decanter?