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A tasting of 1980s, on Wednesday 20th October 2021, at the Boot & Flogger, arranged George G.

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• 1980 Fonseca;
• 1980 Taylor;
• 1980 Croft Quinta da Roêda;
• 1980 Sandeman;
• 1980 Offley;
• 1980 Burmester;
• 1980 Dow;
• 1980 Graham;
• 1980 Warre;
• 1980 Smith Woodhouse;
• 1980 Gould Campbell;
• 1980 Quinta do Noval Nacional;
• 1980 Niepoort;
• 1980 Cálem Quinta da Foz;
• Placemats (mentioned in issue 151; a revisit of the design of 02Mar2012);
• Planning and arrangements.

The first of two bottles acquired from Nickolls and Perks in December 2020.

Level into neck, no obvious seepage.
Cork pretty much fell to bits, but no condition issues. Lots of fine sediment.
Double decanted and Vac-u-Vined at 0700 on morning of tasting.
Passed QA tasting.

Excellent colour, clear rim. Lip-smacking, cherry-sweet, port on very good form.

My notes have "actually has a nose" (to put into context, all the Ports were very muted on the nose even if we changed the smell for the entire building). A lovely fruity palate which is drinking well. "This is really wonderful".

Reasonably dark but a touch light than the Gould Campbell and Smith Woodhouse. More grapey than the Offley but, perhaps, a little less elegant. Pretty good. Might need a little more time to shine.

Dark to mid red – clear rim. The nose really stood out, and was very fresh and lively (I suspect the accompanying wines amplified this observation). Nice and rich on the palate, with raspberries and fresh red fruit flavours predominating. A slight, if somewhat short, aftertaste of macerated red cherries. A runner up with 2 points from me.

Rose red colour, nicely mature appearance; 60% opaque. Little on the nose, some cigar ash and redcurrant but very muted. A big impact on the palate with dry edges and plenty of redcurrant. Balanced but straightforward and very simple. 83/100. Drunk 20-Oct-21. Decanted 12½ hours.