1980 Hutcheson

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
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1980 Hutcheson

Post by jdaw1 »

[url=http://www.theportforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=13827#13827]Here[/url] jdaw1 wrote:Seen on the shelves of Manor House Cellar (61 West 23rd Street, ☏ +1 212 206 7900):
  • $80, Hutcheson 1980;
  • $67, Hutcheson colheita 1975;
  • $31, Rozès LBV 1994.
Then Derek T. asked me, by PM, whether one of these could be dragged across the pond for the 1980 Horizontal in Wokingham. But that would be my only hold luggage would an H80 really be worth an hour+ at Heathrow. We thought not, but a bottle should be drunk anyway.

So, my first port in new apartment is to be a Hutcheson 1980, decanted through a coffee filter at 1pm, and first sampled 150 minutes later. Stencilled bottle, with US importer’s label on back. Cork of uninteresting length, and horizontally branded ‟Porto 1980 Vintage”, no house name. Small particulate sediment, and not a lot of it.

To the eye slightly cloudy (despite coffee filter), and reddish-brown. It looks fully mature, plus a little spare. Nose happily devoid of heat, but with candied sugar, hinting of boiled sweets. Something else that lies between mint and eucalyptus, which later seemed orangey. The mouth a little less satisfactory: something cloying, thought not astringent, and simpler than the nose. If served blind I might have guessed a second-rank house from 1960.

More later.
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Post by DRT »

It seems we reached a very good decision.

Your initial note of this does sound like a wine of 10 to 20 years older than the 1980 vintage. I wonder if it has been traumatised in some way? Was the cork raised or sunken, indicating significant temperature/pressure change?

Maybe it's just not very good VP.

Derek
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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jdaw1
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H80 is a very pleasant VP. I’m thinking 6-4, maybe even 7-

Post by jdaw1 »

H80 is a very pleasant VP. I’m thinking 6-4, maybe even 7-4. It’s just old beyond its years.
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DRT
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Re: H80 is a very pleasant VP. I’m thinking 6-4, maybe even

Post by DRT »

jdaw1 wrote:H80 is a very pleasant VP. I’m thinking 6-4, maybe even 7-4. It’s just old beyond its years.
Is it pleasant enough to persuade you to buy another and carry it across the pond so that your UK port drinking friends can also try it?
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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jdaw1
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H80: Recommended decanting time is short

Post by jdaw1 »

Recommended decanting time is short: two hours. It is now simpler than it was, and lacking any trace of unctuousness. The verdict has slipped to 5-4.

No, not worth an hour at LHR. Sorry team.
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jdaw1
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Hutcheson 1980 front label

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jdaw1
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Hutcheson 1980 back label

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jdaw1
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Hutcheson 1980 IVDP number

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