1966 Fonseca

[Alex Bridgeman]

English bottled. Decanted easily off a considerable amount of very solid sediment. Deep red/brown colour, promising a perfect balance of youth and maturity. Closed on the nose, even after 24 hours of decanting, what little shows is oddly smelly. Perfect entry, with a beautiful balance of red apples, damsons and dried pear. Fantastic complexity, with many layers of flavour competing for attention. Fabulous combination of sweet fruit and restraining acidity. The tannins are fully resolved, showing up as a faint peppery juniper on the palate but as a strong and marked chocolate on the amazing aftertaste and in the finish that is unbelievably long, and is full of licorice root. This is simply a delicious port and is one of my top 10 for for drinking at the moment. If I had more of these, I would drink one every month. 95/100. Opened 14 Jan 2011 and drunk 24 hours after opening.