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From a Bordeaux bottle. Deep red in colour, 95% opaque. Showing lots of ripe pears on the nose (and DMS picked up cold meat). Medium bodied entry, a little too hot for comfort but with a lovely texture. Showing a modest amount of ripe cherry fruit. A dry aftertaste, with a hot start to the finish but then a long dryness of sweet cherry stones which turns sticky at the end. A very pleasant wine. 85/100. Drunk 25 September 2010.

In The Douro Valley with Friends, Harvest 2010:

• Friday 24 September 2010
  • 1960 Fonseca (α alpha);
  • 1963 Graham (β beta);
  • 1963 Taylor (γ gamma);
  • 1977 Graham (tregnum) (δ delta);
• Saturday 25 September 2010
  • 1970 Niepoort (η eta);
  • 1977 Gould Campbell (θ theta);
  • 1970 Warre (ι iota);
  • 1960 Dow (κ kappa);
  • 1970 Dow (λ lambda);
  • 1958 Warre (μ mu);
  • 1934 Warre (ν nu);
• Sunday 26 September 2010
  • 1963 Fonseca (Ï„ tau);
  • 1966 Fonseca (Ï… upsilon);
  • 1970 Fonseca (φ phi);
  • 1977 Fonseca (χ chi);
  • 1994 Vesuvio (ψ psi);
• Monday 27 September 2010
  • 1992 Quevedo colheita (а a);
  • 1994 Quevedo colheita (б be);
  • 1996 Quevedo colheita (в ve);
  • 2000 Quevedo colheita (г ge);
  • 2004 Quevedo LBV (д de);
  • 2008 Quevedo Quinta Vale D’Agodinho (е ie);
  • 1970 Offley Boa Vista.

Ni70: 60% opacity, glorious bright red with a hint of pink. Nose faint though ‟bright and awake”, with mint, maraschino cherry, and ‟lovely fresh sensations”. Alas the palate not as good as nose, being very acidic on the tongue. Needs time.

In the WOTN competition ranked third by me, unranked by everybody else.