Upon first inspection, I noticed that the cork was pushed slightly inwards. After pouring into a decanter, the wine looks like a 10yo tawny, which leads me to believe that the closure on this bottle wasn't great.
The nose is fine, even if not very complex. There's still quite a bit of fruit (which I wouldn't expect, judging from the colour of the wine). A bit of spirit but not too much, certainly doesn't spoil the bouquet.
The same, alas, can't be said about the mouth. There's good stuff going on there (again, not very complex) - quite a bit of mature red fruit, a nice note of spiciness - but the spirit ruins it. It's way too hot on the finish, which sort of ruins the experience.
I'll give it more time on he decanter (this was just the first tasting, at T+1h), to see if it goes away. I hope it does, because, even though I suspect this is a poorly corked bottle, there's still something good here, and I'd like to be able to enjoy it.
1995 Burmester
Re: 1995 Burmester
24 hours in the decanter definitely helped this Port. It is now much more pleasant to drink, that spirity feeling on the mouth is mostly gone, and it has gained a bit of complexity, mostly notes of dark chocolate (although some of the fruit went away, which is a shame).
It's still not a great bottle, and maybe it was never a great Port to begin with, but it's nice enough drinking. I'd give it maybe 88 or 89 points out of 100.
It's still not a great bottle, and maybe it was never a great Port to begin with, but it's nice enough drinking. I'd give it maybe 88 or 89 points out of 100.