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A horizontal of 1991s, some Vintage, some Single-Quinta, on Monday 9^th December 2019, at The Boot & Flogger, as arranged by GEAG.

Links:

• Review of the event as a whole;
• Tasting notes:
  • Dow;
  • Graham;
  • Warre;
  • Quinta do Vesuvio;
  • Smith Woodhouse;
  • Gould Campbell;
  • Cockburn;
  • Cockburn Quinta dos Canais;
  • Taylor Quinta de Vargellas;
  • Fonseca Guimaraens;
  • Croft;
  • Morgan;
  • Quinta do Noval;
  • Quinta do Noval Nacional;
  • Quinta de la Rosa;
  • Niepoort;
• Placemats (and in the list of placemats);
• Planning and arrangements.

Cr91. Dark red, 70% opaque. I like. Big, structure, fruit (plums), dry mid palate. Proper Port properly declared.

Dark red, 60% opaque. Amazing fruity nose, more like an unfortified Californian cabernet than a port. Richly fruited in the mouth. Splendid stuff for drinking now and over the next decade or so. WOTN, and one that 10 of the 14 attendees gave points to.

Medium/deep colour; lots of primary red fruit on the nose; still plenty of tannin and good overall balance.
Liked this a lot; very good.

I find myself against trend here. I see the immediate appeal of this fresh young thing. And somewhat like the 94 it has amazingly held on to its youth. But I found some VA a distraction and ultimately for me the profile a bit simple. Doesn't fall off midway like the 94. I don't vote based on a port's future hence potential not included in my voting but I certainly wouldn't bet against it.

Deep rich red colour, a medium rim and an opaque centre. Gentle, very fruity, black cherry nose - sweet and immensely pronounced, surprisingly primary. Wonderful primary black cherry fruit on the palate. A huge palate, with slightly high toned blackcurrant cough pastille on the mid-palate. Stunningly primary on this wonderful palate. Primary blackcurrant and the black cherry fruit on the aftertaste leads to a fantastic blackcurrant and slightly acidic and green finish. An amazing Port and my clear wine of the night. 94/100.

I guess I didn't find the VA (the "high toned") as distracting as Nick did.