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1980 Offley Boa Vista VP
First bottle from a case bought a few months ago.

Bottles quite heavily bin-soiled inside a fairly fresh case, so presumably these have spent most of their life at VNG.

None of the levels good - low neck to base neck - I suspect they were not very well filled at the outset.

Decanted 6pm - reassuringly dark wine, small amount of flakey sediment.

First sip:

Once again an Offley is showing a Taylor/Vargellas signature. I'm trying to identify a note that separates the two, and have observed that some Offleys seem to have a harder edge - I will look for this when I tackle a glass proper later.

From a horizontal perspective, I have yet to identify a defining note for the '80 vintage - the Chameleon vintage perhaps!

More anon..

Tom

Late last night I thought I might have the defining 'signature' sussed, but now, 18 hours after decanting, this is a Taylor in all but name.

A somewhat light but very flavoursome wine, still with youth on it's side - a wine for 'current drinking'

Will re-visit tomorrow before I score.

Tom

A day on and the wine is now beautifully smooth - but it is also showing a little more youth than before.

There's loads of life in this wine - one of the long haul '80's I'm sure.

To score:

For immdeiate gratification this is well up the scale - top quartile? - not quite - but an easy 7

Where's it going? I think this wine will probably peak in another decade, and at that point should be easily able to deserve another point.

So score: 7-8

Tom

I quite like offley ports as you know Tom but I am sadly lacking in the later vintages