1997 Quinta do Vesuvio

[Alex Bridgeman]

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

Absolutely opaque, looks like it should still have some purple mixed in with the dark red ink, but I couldn't see any in the light that we had available. Nose was really closed, but some coaxing managed to pick out a lovely blueberry and fresh woodsmoke. The initial impact in the mouth was a little hollow and lacking but suddenly a wave of blueberry fruit appears. The fierce but ripe tannins take a long time to fade back but finally do and then reveal the huge amount of fruit that is left in this wine. A great, long aftertaste , dominated by the tannins in the wine.

This is going to be a wonderful wine, but is still closed and shows no real signs of opening up again yet. If you can, leave these another 20 years. 6/7+ (or 6/8 looking forward 20 years) or 92/100.

[Axel P]

Im getting a case on Friday off the island. Lucky me for 30 EUR the bottle.

Alex: I will stay a night at Vesuvio from September 06th to 07th and I am fairly sure that I could get more people in. Its the weekend of Vindouro at the fairly nearby Sao Joao da Pesqueira. The 89 is already booked for a tasting on Sunday.

Any possiblity to attend?

Axel