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A horizontal of 1983 (‟83@30”) at The Bung Hole.

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• 1983 Feuerheerd;
• 1983 Niepoort;
• 1983 Kopke Quinta St. Luiz;
• 1983 Offley Boa Vista;
• 1983 Churchill Quinta da Água Alta;
• 1983 Cockburn;
• 1983 Warre;
• 1983 Dow;
• 1983 Wine Society;
• 1983 Gould Campbell;
• 1983 Fonseca;
• 1983 Taylor;
• 1983 Croft Quinta da Roeda;
• 1983 Real Vinicola;
• 2006 Vesuvio (magnum);
• Placemats (made by Daniel);
• Planning and arrangements.

ChÁA83. Hot. Thin. Not good.

I know that the bottle had some years of bad storage, which could be the cause. Except that too many of these 83s were poor for this to be wholly believable.

Mid-brown, about 40%. Sharp nose, unpleasant. Not as bad in the mouth as it was in the nose: red and juicy, but musty.

Churchill. Burnt ochre in colour, 40% opaque. Limited showing on the nose, a little rhubarb sweetened with brown sugar. Clean entry, high levels of acidity bringing elegant early-palate fruit that fills the mouth. Lots of dry tannins bring more structure. Lively and fragrant on the mid-palate with soft, sweet fruit and lovely cedar sawdust. The aftertaste is of sweet fruit, long and lingering, full of mace and cloves on the finish that is dominated by jellied fruit. 88/100.