1994 Ramos Pinto

[Alex Bridgeman]

Purchased from Berry Brothers in Dublin, who double decanted this for us the morning before our offline.

A deep and dark red with a centre that was totally opaque, no purple on the rim. A wonderful fruity nose, with masses of blackcurrantes and a slight touch of wood smoke. Smooth and balanced entry with ripe fruits in a dry wrapper. Still lots of tannins in the mouth but there is so much fruit that the tannins are not allowed to dominate. There is also a good dollop of acidity in the mix that between all of this I would forecast that this wine will have a super future. Swallowing doesn't stop the flow of fruit flavours that swirl around in the mouth, but these do slowly change to a dark chocolate. (DT detected aniseed.)

This will be a fabulous port and will be better in 20 years. I won't open another for 10 years if I can avoid it. 5/6+ (5/7 looking forward 20 years) or 87/100.