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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 bottle.

This was a library release, I understand.

A cloudy orange-red. Dumb on the nose. Taste is a bit spiritous and orangey.

Mid range on the colour scale for the company. One of the bigger noses for me. Palate was a lot clearer than other ports, raisins and currants supreme. Who would have thought a major tawny producer would make VP that is like a tawny? Apparently everybody that evening. I liked it.

Browning on the edge. Slightly cloudy. Not the lightest. Nose very light with some orange. Notably more acidic in the mouth. Not much fruit. Oranges, again, predominate. A short aftertaste with some heat. Perfectly enjoyable Port.

Tending towards brown, rather than orange, at the rim. I found the nose to be muted (with a slight paperyness to it?). The palate was hot and the dominant flavour like those little red boxes of raisins (with the associated box-like flavour). I was not a fan.

Mature brick red in colour, 50% opaque. Little showing on the nose, some burnt orange skin - not very attractive. Light flavours on entry and a nice texture. Bitter orange and a touch of butterscotch. The palate grows well from the initial impact to the mid-palate with sharp acidity showing on the aftertaste. Burnt orange and burnt sugar on the finish. A good length to the finish, although it ends rather suddenly. 84/100. 20-Oct-21. Decanted 10 hours.