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First the pictures...













Decanted through a coffee filter with almost no sediment. The colour in the picture above is a very good representation.

On Decanting
A little spirit and wood on the nose but a hint of black fruit beneath is promising for later. Medium weight and smooth entry. My initial thought is dark chocolate and cherry. Quite hot but my experience of this wine tells me to ignore that at this point as it should integrate nicely later tonight. This has a nice big chunky tannic backbone to it whch pulls the cheeks together in the finish. Nice stuff. More later.

+6 Hours
Very smooth and thicker than earlier. A nice red fruit core, strawberry being predominant, with lots of dry tannin and none of the heat that was evident earlier. This is now delicious juice but I am sure that when the dry teeth-squeaking tannins soften tomorrow it will be even better.

+24 Hours
The tannins have softened but the heat is back with a vengeance. It's quite warm in the house just now so I will chill it down a little to see if that helps later.

Now with the wine at 17C all of the heat has gone and this is very nice. This is not a superstar VP but it would make a very good house port for the next 10 years if you can find it at the right price.

Derek