1998 Fonseca Guimaraens

[DRT]

...is now in the decanter.

[DRT]

Before opening this bottle I consulted my health coach in Paris via Skype-IM:

I am suffering from FG98DS. What should I do?

Hold on: checking my father’s medical textbooks.
Interesting. Perhaps because he qualified in the 1950s, his textbooks seem to be recommending a magnum of Fonseca 1896.

Doubtless medical technology has improved since then.

A Mag of F 1896 is indeed the perfect cure for this ailment but I have decided to test whether or not FG 1998 has a placebo effect of making my body recover by thinking it is being fed by "the real thing".

A noble self-sacrificial scientific experiment. Proceed!

I do try to take one for the team whenever possible.

I am making do, satisfactorily, with a cigar and Talisker 10Y.

[jdaw1]

Fonseca Guimaraens ’98 Deprivation Syndrome: a grave condition needing urgent remedial action in large quantities. We can only hope that DRT pulls through.

Get well soon old chap.

[DRT]

D+Not very long.
A huge blackcurrant nose that also has a smell of fresh raw beef. Dark red but no longer opaque. Translucent beyond its years?

Thick and viscous. The tannins are quite aggressive and at this stage are overpowering the fruit.

This is a good wine. Not a blockbuster but a good, solid vintage port that should be drinking fabulously in 5 to 10 years form now.

I bought this for about £13 in Sainsbury. I should have bought many more bottles.

[jdaw1]

Is it still for sale in Sainsburys? Does £13/bottle include delivery? To Paris?

[DRT]

Fonseca Guimaraens ’98 Deprivation Syndrome: a grave condition needing urgent remedial action in large quantities. We can only hope that DRT pulls through.

Get well soon old chap.

I am happy to report that my condition appears to be improving. I no longer have the feeling of hopelessness that had descended upon me only an hour ago. I am now on my second dose of the prescribed medicine and will, as advised by all good medical practitioners, finish the course before assuming I have recovered fully.

[DRT]

I must say that I am hugely encouraged by the results of this experiment. FG1998 does indeed give similar clinical results to F1896, although perhaps the recovery is somewhat slower with this new formula.

To validate these initial findings I have prepared a small control sample that will be sent to Professor Wiseman, a pre-eminent expert in the subject of port deficiency syndrome, currently residing in Paris. Hopefully the sample will reach him in good time before he departs on his next field research trip.

[jdaw1]

Please reassure me that you have not neglected your basic epidemiological methodology: of course, you have sent both the 1998 and the 1896, labelled with arbitrary codes, for me to test (skip the placebo: epidemiological methodology is only so interesting). I am to report which works better.

[DRT]

Please reassure me that you have not neglected your basic epidemiological methodology: of course, you have sent both the 1998 and the 1896, labelled with arbitrary codes, for me to test (skip the placebo: epidemiological methodology is only so interesting). I am to report which works better.

Message from the laboratory technicians office:

We regret to inform Professor Wiseman that the control sample of F1896 inexplicably exploded just as we were about to despatch it to Paris. Luckily the patient caught and digested the explused liquid so nothing was wasted. Fortunately, the primary sample of FG1998 remains intact and will at least allow you to provide a preliminary analysis.