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Red throughout; fading towards the edge. Concentrated jammy fruit on the nose, with some marzipan. In the mouth, the tannins are no obvious on first tasting unlike the younger QdNs, although they are still present. The sugar is well balanced, as is the acidity. The aftertaste is extremely long. Excellent quaffing Port: could easily drink a bottle.

Tasted at: Quinta do Noval Virtual Tasting with 67 Pall Mall

Date: 28th June 2020

Rated: C

http://www.jacob-head.com/port/records/ ... al_1994_VP

(A Note on Ratings

My rating system attempts to answer the question “is this a good Port?” one of three ways: No; Possibly; or Certainly. Ports generally are rated against others of their category. Therefore, a Ruby Port which I rate as C for Certainly good, might not be as good as a Vintage Port which receives the same rating. I sometimes modify my rating with a plus or minus indicating that the Port is better or worse than might be expected for this category.)

Decanted under Argon by 67 Pall Mall for one of their online Zoom tastings.

Dark rose red, but losing opacity; 90% opaque at the centre. At first this had the same bottle stink on the nose as a previous sample, but circumstances allowed the wine to be able to sit in the glass for an hour before tasting. In that time the unpleasant smell blew off to allow a lovely, rich, ripe black cherry to develop. The black cherry shows on the impact on the palate, kept fresh by a lovely level of acidity and with soft tannins almost fully integrated. The balance on the palate is wonderful, clean and fresh but with perfectly ripe and fruit that has a sweetness without being over-ripe of jammy. The black cherry dominates the aftertaste but the finish develops a wonderful lavender fragrance and a peppercorn bite. Great length. A delicious Port which drinks very well today but will improve with patience. 91/100