1985 Fonseca

[RAYC]

On Thursday 27th October 2011, at The Crusting Pipe, StevieCage and RonnieRoots held a tasting with AHB, jdaw1 and RAYC.

Links:
Review of the evening as a whole
1985 Graham (bottle 1)
1985 Graham (bottle 2)
1985 Fonseca
1983 Offley Boa Vista
1977 Niepoort
1970 Gould Campbell
1998 Dow quinta do Bomfim
Planning and arrangements

[RAYC]

Short notes for this: Smooth, mouth-filling, youngish, delicious, good tongue-tingling spiciness. Possibly under-decanted, as continued to come round nicely in glass until it was finished. Another 5 years will do nicely, but so will a case for drinking in the meantime...Gone too soon...****(*) (92)

[Alex Bridgeman]

Deep red in colour, 70% opaque. Quite closed on the nose; herbaceous tones, sweet and with a touch of eucalyptus. Sweet fruit on the palate, with a very spicy centre that is full of black licorice. Plenty of fruit, but also a brooding acidic structure. Mouth filling. Hot flush on the aftertaste and then a long finish of sweet redcurrant. Needs a lot more time; will be better in 10 years. Served blind, I guessed this to be D91, other guesses were Var91, Ch85 and FG87. 5 hours decant. Drunk 27 October 2011. 90/100.

[jdaw1]

F85, JDAW: 70% opaque, red. Pepper. Big. Smooth surprisingly so. Heat near end, then disappears. Thoroughly yummy. Mis-guessed by all.