ThePortForum.com

An Oporto bottling, one of four purchased a couple of years ago.

Bottle selected for having extensive wine staining on the guarantee slip, although as there is no evidence of ongoing seepage, this could have come from another bottle at some point in the past.

Decanted 7pm yesterday. Sampled at 10pm it seemed hot and in need of more decanter time, so left alone.

22hrs

Light golden red in the glass, with clear meniscus. Looks fully mature and a little besides. Light, pleasant bouquet.

On the palate it has the classic Croft signature of oranges. Much less heat now, and better composed, but may improve a little yet. Smooth finish.

A light wine, and a little beyond its plateau, but no great urgency to drink up. Very agreeable.

More anon..

Tom

Showed very much better as a midnight nightcap (+30 hrs) and is still showing very well now as I sup the last glass (+72 hrs)

To score:

For immediate gratification this comes over as a fully mature and well composed wine; its only de-merit being a bit of a lightweight.

Where's it going? - I sense this has just about past it's plateau, but is not about to fall apart any time soon.

Score 8-7

Tom

uncle tom wrote:
On the palate it has the classic Croft signature of oranges. Much less heat now, and better composed, but may improve a little yet. Smooth finish.

That's incredible, my first croft this weekend was the 77 and everyone all mentioned the oranges!!