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Pale barley-sugar orange with a watery rim, only 10% opaque. Sweet licorice and nutmeg on the nose - really very nice. Sweet entry, full of honey. Huge heat from the acidity, full of grapefruit and lime, showing just a hint of rosemary from its age. A hot aftertaste, then a lingering grapefruit and honey finish of medium length. A lovely wine, full of the elegance of age, but a wine to drink up as it is fading gently. 84/100. 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.

W34: brown, hint of orange, 20% opacity. Said by one to look like a 40YO tawny. Nosing of lavender soap. To taste burning hot. Oranges mid to late palate.

Later the heat had faded, leaving grapefruit marmalade and good acidity. Long past its prime. ‟A bit varnishy”, said one.

Unranked by me and AHB; voted first by ADV and DRT; and second by the other two finishing second. I suspect that if the label had said ‟1960” that the voting would have been less enthusiastic. (Indeed, DRT remarked that my voting is always utterly unromantic.)