ThePortForum.com

[url=http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=14680#14680]Here[/url] jdaw1 wrote:
Half-a-dozen Mz97s, packed in a wooden box, at $16 a bottle. That’s the cost of Mg91. How could I be wrong?

Warehouse Wines & Spirits®, 735 Broadway at Astor Place, New York, NY 10003, tel +1 212 982 7770; fax +1 212 982 7791. No website.

Time for a try-out of a $16 vintage port.

Martinez 1997 front label

Martinez 1997 back label

Martinez Gassiot was founded in the City of London in 1790 and opened its first lodge in Oporto in 1834.

Martinez 1997 capsule

Martinez 1997 cork

Martinez 1997 sediment

Martinez 1997 wine colour

Martinez 1997 bought locally for $16 a bottle. Decanted through muslin 3pm, with sticky-looking but fine sediment. No lumps. Very dark, red, a touch cloudy (opening the wooden case won’t have helped), with maybe a tiny hint of brown at the edge: somewhere between and . At D+0 grape jelly in the light nose and on the palate, but very very tannic in the mouth. This will need a lot of time in the decanter.

So, as I don’t have many days, I have held the stopper firmly whilst shaking vigorously, and then removed the stopper. (Advice: the sequencing is important.)

Further reports to come.

D+7h: still hot and tannic. Huge grapey fruit, but with an ill-melded feel. Tempted to score this something odd like 2-6.

Alas storage is tricky, so the other five bottles will be drunk too young: i.e., soon.

jdaw1 wrote:D+7h: still hot and tannic. Huge grapey fruit, but with an ill-melded feel. Tempted to score this something odd like 2-6.

Alas storage is tricky, so the other five bottles will be drunk too young: i.e., soon.

The cork looks good, and from your description it doesn't sound cooked. I would certainly try to let some bottles sit in the cellar for a good while and try them aged.

Nice pictures, and of course, a tremendous bargain.

D+30h: still hot, but also blander. The softening of yesterday’s tannins has not left a great port. Satisfactory quaffing, I suppose. 2-5 might be the final score.