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I felt my evening celebrating the end of the Graduate Diploma in Law (and possibly the worst 8 months of my life) would not be complete without some Port. I wanted to open something quite good but which would not be wasted after having at least 7 hours in the pub and this seemed to fit the bill.

The following is based on the first couple of glasses, drunk immediately after decanting. I bought one of those Georgian decanting funnels last week (which force the Port down the side of the decanter) and this is the first bottle I have used it on, which seems to have resulted in a more "advanced" taste than I get with a normal funnel.

The colour is inky black with only a little purple on the rim. The bottle only threw a very little, but surprisingly thick, sediment. On the nose there seems to be very little beyond a light cherry sent. In the mouth, it is very attractive. Lots of cherry, chocolate and herbs. If this carries on developing in the decanter, it will be an excellent LBV. Based on what I have had so far it seems considerably better than others from the same vintage.

-Jacob

Congrats on finishing the Studies, where will that hopefully take you in life?

I'm afraid I love a large glass of Port as well, to finish my drinking off. I'm impressed with your recollections. Mine get lost in the blurry sands of time...

I am impressed that I managed to type that last night, considering the state I was in. And it was only 10.30PM! :embarrassed:

Congrats on finishing the Studies, where will that hopefully take you in life?

I'm afraid I love a large glass of Port as well, to finish my drinking off. I'm impressed with your recollections. Mine get lost in the blurry sands of time...

Thanks! The current plan is to do the next course, the Bar Vocational Certificate, part-time over the next two years. If everything goes to plan, that would then be followed by a year’s pupillage and then either the start of work at the Bar, or personal insolvency (as the failure rate is about 60% ).

20+ hours in, this is still a very impressive LBV. On the nose now there is quite a lot of blackcurrent. I dare say that would have been detectable last night, were I in a less advanced stage when I started drinking this! In the mouth, it has an unusual light feel, with spiciness being more noticeable than last night.

I like like this a lot. It’s quite pricy but I think it’s worth the extra and will improve with some more time.

I like the Infantado LBV's a lot, especially the younger vintages are of very good quality, and arguably, better value than the vintages of this house.

I like the Infantado LBV's a lot, especially the younger vintages are of very good quality, and arguably, better value than the vintages of this house.

RonnieRoots wrote:I like the Infantado LBV's a lot, especially the younger vintages are of very good quality, and arguably, better value than the vintages of this house.

I haven’t had any of their VP but it’s a shame if that’s the case; I was quite tempted to seek out a bottle after this!

-Jacob

By all means: do. I didn't mean to say their VP's are not good, just that the LBV is very good for the money. As is the case with more single quinta producers (Crasto, Passadouro) the vintages are good, very pleasant ports, but not fit to compete with the top league.

My one sampling of their VP, an Infantado 1985, was imperfectly OK.

RonnieRoots wrote:By all means: do. I didn't mean to say their VP's are not good, just that the LBV is very good for the money. As is the case with more single quinta producers (Crasto, Passadouro) the vintages are good, very pleasant ports, but not fit to compete with the top league.

It was more a question of priorities than absolutes! Considering there are some really good Ports available, which I haven’t tried, for c. £28 a bottle (which seems to be the going rate for a recent Infantado VP), I think I might put the Infantado VP further down the list.

48+ Hours: this is pretty much unchanged from yesterday and is holding up well.

-Jacob

2001 Quinta Do Infantado Porto Late Bottled Vintage

$3.99, .375 bottle size

yeah, it was one of my local "buy 12 get the 13th for blah blah blah" buys, but i am not complaining!

30 minutes decanted and so i've i've observed what the op observed. altho not inky black, definately a deep purple color that i don't think is found naturally in nature...

nice flavours of chocolate and cherries with some raspberry kirsch/grape jelly. VERY sweet. lovely wine and the price is right!