1985 Calem

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tasted at the Kopke tasting room in Vila Nova de Gaia.

A lovely mature brick red colour with a wide rim. Lovely prunes, dark toffee and esteva on the nose. Delicious complexity. Smooth on the palate, good tannins in the mature fruit. A little leather, dried cherry and lots of dried herbs. Big and assertive, fresh acidity. Delicious mature aftertaste and long finish. Lovely mature Port. 89/100. Tasted 17-Jun-22. Decanting time approximately 2 hours.

[Will W.]

I have likely consumed a dozen bottles of '85 Calem over the last six years; it appears regularly at auction in Portugal, where it can be had at favourable prices when juxtaposed against the steady quality - invariably 88-89 points. Calem must have bottled scads of the stuff from that year, though how much made it out of Portugal is another question. If readers can find any in the UK at the typical Portuguese auction price of +/- EUR 40/bottle, take whatever you can get for midweek drinking away from warmer weather.