1963 Croft

[Alex Bridgeman]

From a half bottle; decanted off a generous amount of very solid sediment.

A gorgeous burnished red in colour, looking mature and to be in a secondary phase of life. Slightly harsh nose, showing the spirit over the top of a bruised cherry and green apple. Smokey entry, powerful acidity cuts through the mature and tertiary fruit, giving a harshness to the palate. Terrific development and layering of flavour. Huge burst of heat on swallowing that brings tears to the eyes, but then a very, very long finish of dry licorice root and aniseed. Massive duration on the green fig finish - nearly 2 minutes. This port softened and improved over a couple of hours in the glass, with the acidity subsiding a little, so allowing more of the secondary flavours to blossom to become truly delicious. 90/100. Drunk 17-Jan-14. Decanted 3 hours.