1985 Smith Woodhouse

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
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1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by jdaw1 »

SW85: decanted half past noon. At D+0 lovely red hue, mid translucency. Lots of acid, lots of tannin, both slightly dwarfing the red fruit that also shows through. Bodes well for later.
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jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
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Re: 1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by jdaw1 »

SW85 at D+4hr. Lovely structure, and very well balanced. Fine port. Quite dry, and a light astringency throughout the palate. Cranberries showing through.

Though my taste is for port to be sweeter than this, still excellent.
Glenn E.
Graham’s 1977
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Re: 1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by Glenn E. »

jdaw1 wrote:SW85 at D+4hr. Lovely structure, and very well balanced. Fine port. Quite dry, and a light astringency throughout the palate. Cranberries showing through.

Though my taste is for port to be sweeter than this, still excellent.
My notes for this Port indicate that it is medium to medium sweet. Those notes are admittedly from rather early in my tasting education, but since I'm not fond of dry Port I must assume that I would be able to pick that up fairly quickly.

Have you had this often, and if so has it been consistently dry to your taste?
Glenn Elliott
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jdaw1
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Re: 1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by jdaw1 »

Not had it often. Liking it. Note to self: must drink more. At D+8hr sweeter, but still not more than medium. The acid and general structure still much more present than sugar.
Alex M
Quinta do Noval LBV
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Re: 1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by Alex M »

Any hints as to the longetivity of the wine? I picked up a couple of bottles cheap a while back and was wondering if they are worth keeping for a few decades.
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jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
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Re: 1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by jdaw1 »

Lovely drinking now: there is no sin in opening them. In a decade, will they be better? Hmmm: not sure about that. Will they be worse? I doubt it: a little different, but not obviously worse. So drink at leisure. Ideal time: when I visit.
Glenn E.
Graham’s 1977
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Re: 1985 Smith Woodhouse

Post by Glenn E. »

Alex M wrote:Any hints as to the longetivity of the wine? I picked up a couple of bottles cheap a while back and was wondering if they are worth keeping for a few decades.
From my notes I would say that it needs another 10 years, and should easily last another 20. The bottle I tried was robust and young; clearly not yet fully mature.
Glenn Elliott
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