1985 Fonseca

[Alex M]

Purchased at auction in July 2019. Fill level well into neck and no indication of seepage nor cork protrusion. On opening the bottle part of the cork broke but as usual likely operator error. A lot of chunky sediment on decanting. Decanted for 8 hours.

On decanting a very dark red (indicated in picture).On initial decant I couldn't smell much, hints of alcohol and berries. After 8 hours fruit was much more evident and it even smelt a bit earthy, much like my vegetable garden.

On initial taste it was very closed and I was worried, there really wasn't much there. After 8 hours, it was very tasty and much more open. Lots of red berries and blueberries. Alcohol evident throughout but more so on the finish which went on for quite some time. I feel like this could have had a longer decant though, possibly 12 hours.

In summary, a tasty port and i'm glad I have more. I prefer ports with approximately 40-50 years of bottle age and I assess this will be perfect for me in another 10 years.

For now, 92/100 but with potential for more.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Fonseca 1985 is one of those Ports which - at the moment - can easily cope with a 12-24 hour decant. It is a monster.