1994 Croft

[nac]

First of three bottles purchased from Harvey Nichols sale in January 2023.
Decanted at 1830 on evening before 1994 Horizontal on 26/3/24; in decanter for two hours; rebottled and Vac-U-Vined.
Cork maybe 40% saturated. Lots of fine sediment.
QA sample good.

[jdaw1]

On Tuesday 26th March 2024, at The Boot & flogger, we tasted 1994s.

• Review of the evening as a whole;
  • 1994 Croft;
  • 1994 Taylor;
  • 1994 Fonseca;
  • 1994 Tesco;
  • 1994 Martinez;
  • 1994 Warre;
  • 1994 Dow;
  • 1994 Graham;
  • 1994 Quinta do Vesuvio;
  • 1994 Cockburn;
  • 1994 Kopke;
  • 1994 Quinta do Noval;
  • 1994 Burmester;
  • 1994 Cálem;
  • 1994 Royal Oporto;
• Planning and arrangements;
• Placemats;
• Food order.

[jdaw1]

Cr94: dark dark red, 80% opaque. Lovely dark fruits, but slightly simple, and slightly hollow. As with many bottles this evening, could be drunk with pleasure, but not of the greats.

[nac]

70% opaque, ruby but possibly starting to show some brown at the rim. Still some decent dark fruit on the nose. More primary fruit on palate. Very pleasant - 5/7.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Decanted at 18.30, returned to the bottle at 20.30 and vacu-vined. Allowed to stand in the glass for 30 minutes before tasting.

Slightly cloudy, dark red in colour with a black tone to red. Fresh bramble fruit on the nose. On the palate the fruit is sweet and a little jammy but the palate has good acidity and a gentle grip. Great persistence on the finish. The wine is attractive, youthful and full of vigour. 90/100.

[flash_uk]

75% opacity, deep dull red. Nose has redcurrant. Full mouthfeel, velvety, redcurrant, chocolate, soft tannin, fresh.
Nice, though acidity not best integrated.