1989 Quinta do Vesuvio Vintage Port
Posted: 15:36 Wed 07 Nov 2007
A bottle that I decided to open since all the notes I have read say this should be drunk soon. Bottle number 29,742 out of the 37,822 produced for this vintage has now departed the world. Decanted cleanly and sparklingly clear off a mixture of sediment - some of the very fine sediment that seems to be typical of Vesuvio was still in the bottle but much of the sediment had formed into the "leaf-structure" type of deposit.
A note taken approximately 1 hour after decanting:
A mid-rose colour, no youth left in the appearance of the wine and there is definite bricking. A lovely lifted nose that can be picked up as you move the glass around to see the colour. Sweet bramble fruit, with some autumn morning dew and lots of cotton dust.
Quite an empty entry, but the mid-palate slowly builds up to reveal sweet and ripe blackberries. Rather delicious in the way the fruit keeps building up. A hint of tannins, but nothing obtrusive, most of the structure comes from the acidity. Swallowing realeases a burst of the cotton dust, a quick flash of heat and then a gentle aftertaste of mild chocolate cake with a raspberry coulis that lasts for absolutely ages and gradually changes into a mellow espresso.
On this first showing this is a much better bottle than we tried at Vesuvio and shows no signs of the Douro bake that I was expecting. This is very enjoyable.
More anon.
A note taken approximately 1 hour after decanting:
A mid-rose colour, no youth left in the appearance of the wine and there is definite bricking. A lovely lifted nose that can be picked up as you move the glass around to see the colour. Sweet bramble fruit, with some autumn morning dew and lots of cotton dust.
Quite an empty entry, but the mid-palate slowly builds up to reveal sweet and ripe blackberries. Rather delicious in the way the fruit keeps building up. A hint of tannins, but nothing obtrusive, most of the structure comes from the acidity. Swallowing realeases a burst of the cotton dust, a quick flash of heat and then a gentle aftertaste of mild chocolate cake with a raspberry coulis that lasts for absolutely ages and gradually changes into a mellow espresso.
On this first showing this is a much better bottle than we tried at Vesuvio and shows no signs of the Douro bake that I was expecting. This is very enjoyable.
More anon.