1990 Petre

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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Will W.
Taylor’s LBV
Posts: 183
Joined: 14:33 Thu 11 Aug 2016

1990 Petre

Post by Will W. »

1990 Petre

Lendelede, Belgium, rests roughly twenty-five kilometres east of Ypres. Outwardly non-descript, the town nonetheless has two claims to fame: first, Roland Garros, the aviation pioneer after whom the French Open tennis tournament is named, was shot down by German ground fire on 18 April 1915 after having dropped a bomb on the local train station; and secondly, Lendelede is the home of Wijnen Henri Petre, the wine merchant, which has lent its name since 1975 to vintage, late bottled vintage and tawny bottlings.

Petre’s port was and continues to be produced by Niepoort, evidently in significant quantities insofar as the Petre label appears not infrequently at auction, most especially in northern Europe. The obvious query, for aficionados of all things Lendelede, is whether the wine is any good. Alas, I cannot say, having never tried the stuff, save for this single bottle of 1990 vintage port. The latter was purchased at auction for reasons forgotten and produced at table on 07 April 2022 in honour of a visiting journalist, born the year at which the grapes had been harvested. On the available evidence, the 1990 Petre’s vintage port is rather agreeable - even after a ten-hour decant.

Maroon-brown in the glass - the evidence of bricking was indisputable - the wine presented as semi-opaque with a clear rim, as one would expect of a 1990 vintage. The nose proved to be a delight, offering as it did strong notes of black cherry as well as blackberry, with hints of orange rind, eucalyptus and chocolate bereft of milk. The dark fruits dominated the fore-palate, along with citrus and black pepper, the lot being cut with a touch of capsicum annuum.* And more black pepper. This mélange carried on to the back, with the black pepper dominating the lengthy finish until the aforementioned cherry made a rousing curtain call. The overall impression was most satisfactory.

The 1990 Petre’s vintage port is as good as any of the handful of more celebrated single quinta vintages produced from that year; not least, the more sought after Graham’s Malvedos, Warre’s Cavadinha and Dow’s Bomfim. What is more, the ostensibly less desirable Petre’s nomenclature renders the typical tariff to be paid at auction a good deal less than that of its peers. Beautifully balanced, this is a vintage port very much in the Niepoort style - save for the pronounced black pepper - albeit one bereft of the volatile acidity which plagues so many of the Niepoort vintages produced during the 1980s and early-1990s. Better still, the Petre’s gentle residual tannins point to a wine which remains a half decade from its peak. Whilst by no means heroic, in the manner of Garros or, say, the 1970 Niepoort vintage, the 1990 Petre’s is a wine worth acquiring.

-91 points

* Red bell pepper. Years ago, I studied law; such explains my occasional and pointless use of Latin.
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