ThePortForum.com

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• Planning and arrangements;
• Placemats;
• Tasting notes:
  • 1873 Schofield;
  • 1896 Elviro Garcia ‘Refreshed’ tawny;
  • 1932 Butler Nephew;
  • 1938 Hooper;
  • 1942 Hooper;
  • 1944 Hooper colheita;
  • 1947 Barros colheita;
  • 1952 Barros colheita;
  • Infantado Vintage Character, bottled October 1996.

Decanted 3pm.

Look: Dark and purple-red. Definitely a Ruby Port.

Nose: Red fruit. Mildly sour, but in a good way. I'd call it citrus, but that's not quite right.

Taste: Red. Rather one dimensional, but easy to drink. It's nice, but that's all. Can't really find anything bad to say about it, but then again can't really find anything good to say about it either.

Finish: almost none.

As plain as it was, I still rated this #8 ahead of the 1873 Schofield. I did notice that when tasting head-to-head, the V.C. didn't really change (probably because it was so simple) but it could have a significant effect on how the others tasted.

Infantado Vintage Character: given to me as a present by a friend who found it in the home of a relative or something.

Red, lots of red fruity, very simple and sweet. Not horrible (so better than expectations), but really needed G&T starters, then this with tonic, ice, chopped fruit, a hot summer’s day, a barbecue, a swimming pool, several scantily! etc.

I like the map on the back of the label. It’s perhaps something that more of the independent SQVP producers should do to really pin their Quintas down to a specific terroir. Also, Infantado has the best typography of any Port producer!

Vintage Character, organically grown, bottled in 1996. Deep ruby in colour, almost opaque in the centre. A nose overwhelmingly of raspberry coulis! Very silky in the mouth, but watery in the mid-palate. An unpleasant bitterness behind the raspberries; tannic, but with the raspberries still present. Fortunately, the bitterness fades with time in the glass, but never enough for this wine to become pleasant. A fierce burn on swallowing, then a pleasant but quickly fading aftertaste which does hold on for a while at a low level of hazelnuts and raspberry. 86/100.