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This is my second TN, but now I feel far more comfortable than last week because the Offley L.B.V. 2000 (bottled in 2004) is far more interesting than the Kopke L.B.V. 2003.
Compared to the Kopke the Offley seems to be entirely different!

Just after decanting I noticed the nose had a slightly melting butter kind of aroma. There was very little sediment, a few specks only. I was surprised by the colour of this L.B.V. which is fairly transparent red (quite the opposite of the dark and opaque Kopke L.B.V.). At this stage the flavour was very much like the Offley Ruby, some acidity.

Decant +2
Two hours in the decanter was already enough to convince me that decanting can make a remarkable difference (note: this is the first time I decanted a port). After just two ours the Offley starts to become more refined, less acidic. The nose and the flavour have become somewhat raisin-like. Somehow it now has more of an aged Tawny-like than a Ruby-like 'feel' to it...

Decant +4
Not much different from two hours ago. Finish slightly dryer.

Decant +25
Too long to my taste. Colour now has a brownish hue, but the taste seems to have reverted to more Ruby-like in character. I also noticed some alcohol burn in my oesophagus which I hadn't before...

I liked it best 2 hours after decanting.

From innocent virgin to extended decanting multi-TN Pro in less than 2 weeks - Excellent

Keep it coming...

Derek

Thanks!

My birthday is coming up, so I'll soon be opening the Dow's Colheita 1996. I'm really looking forward to tasting and (hopefully) enjoying it...

Have you had Colheita before? I like it slightly chilled. Not cold, just a little below room temperature as it takes away some of the alcohol burn that you sometimes get, especially in a young Colheita.

Derek

No, this is the first...

Depends on what you mean by 'room temperature'. For most people that would be 20C/68F or even higher... I'm one of those few warm-blooded people that don't really like heat. In the winter I hardly ever set the thermostat above 16C/61F.

Does that sound like a good temperature?

Yes, that should be fine. But if you do find Colheita or Tawny ports to be to have too much spirit you should chill them down as it often allows you to remove that distraction from the other tastes.

Derek

Thank you, that is good advice.

I'm beginning to get the hang of identifying certain tastes and aromas. Right now I'm enjoying a Kopke Tawny and every time I take a sip I smell pears...

Pears. Interesting.

One of the things that I tell people to look out for when they ask what volatile acidity (VA) is like, is pear drops or the smell of sweet and almost overripe pears.

Which could be something deliberately blended in to an aged tawny to add some complexity on the nose.

Alex

It's a standard Kopke Tawny. I just poured a glass of it to double check, but the smell of sweet pears is still very present. So this is VA...

But does that mean that something has gone wrong during the production and/or bottling of this Tawny?

Interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_fault

It doesn't necessarily mean that something has gone wrong in the production of this port, we would really only know the answer to that question if we had been able to try a lot of this particular port over a number of years.

It is very possible that the wine-maker deliberately blended in some port with a VA profile simply to make the nose on the port a little more interesting. If you are not finding the smell of pears overwhelming or distracting, you could say that the wine-maker got it right!

Alex

Agreed. Though rather present in the last glass I just had (6th day after opening), the smell of pears wasn't overwhelming.