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AHB had an emergency, so he and I met at El Vino’s, intending to drink F77. But they had sold the two bottles that they had promised to save for us.

So, T92, double-decanted at 11am. Dark dark red, 80% opaque. Nose had plum and tannin, still closed but on the edge of becoming big. Palate had lots of plum, then big white pepper throughout mid-palate and to end. Very very soft, and very very long. Splendid Port of the first rank.

Delicious. One obvious complaint, about the bottle size. What a blatant cheek of TFP, putting only ¾l in a 750ml bottle.

Has El Vino changed hands..? Their website is no longer available.

djewesbury wrote:Has El Vino changed hands..? Their website is no longer available.

They have not changed hands, but I did notice that their website was malfunctioning yesterday. I ended up walking in to one of their branches because I couldn't get on to their website.

A tasting note will follow from me in due course.

A bottle purchased and consumed in El Vino, Fleet Street. Deep red in colour, intense and opaque. Fairly closed on the nose but showing some plums and a streak of grapefruit acidity and a twist of mint. Smooth textured on the palate, velvet coating the mouth. Big and powerful on the palate with huge levels of acidity supporting an intense and concentrated palate. Black cherry and black chocolate- wow! Incredibly intense. Despite the size of the palate, this has terrific balance and tannins which are soft and round. This is big but not aggressive; a lovely pepperiness that JDAW rightly described as white peppercorns. The aftertaste is huge, full of sweet black cherry and bitter black chocolate. Voluminous and mouthfilling and of great length. The pepperiness of the palate runs through to the end of the finish where a warm aniseed takes over. Very impressive port that comes with a wonderful balance. This has a huge future, and is drinking now but will hold for many decades. 94/100. Drunk 27-Mar-14. Decanted 3½ hours.