1997 Quinta do Vesuvio vintage port
Posted: 11:19 Mon 10 Mar 2008
Purchased from Berry Brothers in Dublin, who double decanted this for us the morning before our offline.
Absolutely opaque, looks like it should still have some purple mixed in with the dark red ink, but I couldn't see any in the light that we had available. Nose was really closed, but some coaxing managed to pick out a lovely blueberry and fresh woodsmoke. The initial impact in the mouth was a little hollow and lacking but suddenly a wave of blueberry fruit appears. The fierce but ripe tannins take a long time to fade back but finally do and then reveal the huge amount of fruit that is left in this wine. A great, long aftertaste , dominated by the tannins in the wine.
This is going to be a wonderful wine, but is still closed and shows no real signs of opening up again yet. If you can, leave these another 20 years. 6/7+ (or 6/8 looking forward 20 years) or 92/100.
Absolutely opaque, looks like it should still have some purple mixed in with the dark red ink, but I couldn't see any in the light that we had available. Nose was really closed, but some coaxing managed to pick out a lovely blueberry and fresh woodsmoke. The initial impact in the mouth was a little hollow and lacking but suddenly a wave of blueberry fruit appears. The fierce but ripe tannins take a long time to fade back but finally do and then reveal the huge amount of fruit that is left in this wine. A great, long aftertaste , dominated by the tannins in the wine.
This is going to be a wonderful wine, but is still closed and shows no real signs of opening up again yet. If you can, leave these another 20 years. 6/7+ (or 6/8 looking forward 20 years) or 92/100.