1985 Fonseca

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
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1985 Fonseca

Post by jdaw1 »

At the generous instigation of Alex B.: “Please, no-one bring anything except where I have asked for help. This is supposed to be a cellar reduction party so I am happy to supply various bottles for us to share. A handful of people know some of what will be brought, but I'll serve all bottles blind.”

So we went to a Helen-less Bung Hole to meet Amy — who had just left for the day. (No problem: we met her two days later.)

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jdaw1
Cockburn 1851
Posts: 23613
Joined: 15:03 Thu 21 Jun 2007
Location: London
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Re: 1985 Fonseca

Post by jdaw1 »

F85. Dark red, 70% opaque. Big and thick and smoke and leather. No pepper. A trace of heat. Fine robust Port.

Fonseca 1985 is back. It has had two years of mis-behaving, but that teenage acne is now finished and beauty has emerged. Me like.
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
Location: Berkshire, UK

Re: 1985 Fonseca

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

Mature red, deep centre, 60% opaque. Slight hardness on the nose, dusty fruit and powerful alcohol. Harsh on the palate at first, then a sweet fruitiness. Quite light on the palate, very sweet fruit that does grow and gets quite powerful. Surprisingly sweet and supported by a bit of acidity but surprisingly few tannins resulting in a disappointingly flabby palate. Hot aftertaste and a sweet strawberry jelly finish. Later this port opened in the glass but remained jammy and unfocused. 86/100. Drunk 26-Aug-14. 12 hour decant.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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