Winter Bender spins out of control...

Without further ado, enjoy the notes...


NIEPOORT LBV 2001
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About halfway between purple and maroon. The nose is brooding - deep blackberry, tar and menthol. The palate comes across medium sweet with a full feel in the mouth - big ripe plum and currant fruit with peppery notes coming through on the medium length finish. This is a well balanced wine with integrated tannins and is drinking nicely. Niepoort delivers another big tasty port. 87pts, Tasted 2/08

DOW'S VINTAGE 1983
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A fairly dark purple hue, though going ruddy around the edges, showing some age. The nose is not particularly giving - there are notes of dark fruit, sort of kirsch-like, a bit raisiny, but hard to coax out of the glass. Opens with soft but fairly full fruit with flavors of black cherry and prune followed by black pepper and a little bit of spirit. There is decent structure there, but the tannins are now well in the background and the finish is of moderate length showing hints of cocoa and a bit of spirit persisting. Decent but unexciting. 84pts, Tasted 2/08

CROFT VINTAGE 1994
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Deep burgundy color with just a hint of maturity beginning to show on the rim. It took quite a while in the decanter before the nose opened up, though it still seems to be holding something back. It shows notes of smokey prune, raspberry jam, and tobacco. The palate is generous, delivering layers of sweet dark fruit - blueberry, blackberry, and raisin come across and just keep on going - smooth, ripe and rich, it builds into a long spicy finish. A delicious vintage port at this stage, but this one should definitely get even more impressive as it fleshes out over the next several decades. 93pts, Tasted 2/08

FONSECA VINTAGE 1970
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Dark raspberry red in color, almost purplish still, and rimmed with just a hint of orange. The nose initially had a very musty character, but this mostly blew off after a few hours of decanting, revealing a bouquet of red berries, roasted nuts, leather, and orange marmalade. The palate is decadent, with big smooth layers of cherry, plum, raspberry and strawberry jam filling the mouth transitioning into notes of pepper, vanilla, roses and licorice on the very long finish. There is still major structure to this port - big tannins and ripe acidity - although the texture is supple and well woven together. It certainly doesn't come off as a 38 year old wine! Still showing strong tannins but excellent mature character as well. Probably hasn't even reached it's peak at this point. Great stuff! 95pts, Tasted 2/08

DELAFORCE COLHEITA 1986
(bottled in 05)
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Fully tawny in color - golden at the edges with only a slight hint of red left. Good intensity on the nose showing hazelnut, marmalade, cinnamon, vanilla, and buttery oak notes. There's good weight to the palate as well, it's smooth and medium sweet with carmelized fruit flavors and butterscotch, balanced by a tart cherry acidity. The finish is long and elegant. Very nice colheita. 91pts, Tasted 3/08

SANDEMANS VINTAGE 1985
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Light maroon color with a tawny hue to the rim. The nose shows a lot of maturity as well - cherry and strawberry, hazelnut, clove and cinnamon - quite nice. Smooth palate of maraschino cherry and caramel apple, pleasantly sweet with some black pepper and nutty notes rounding out the medium length finish. Seems fully fleshed out at this stage, moving toward the delicate side, though it has good balance and is drinking very well - definitely one to drink in the near-term. My first vintage port from this producer and it was a pleasing introduction. 89/90pts, Tasted 3/08

DOW'S VINTAGE 1997
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After several hours in the decanter this was a dark purple color, almost inky, with a vibrant plum-colored rim. The nose is deep-toned and really complex, with a heady blend of blueberry, blackberry, black cherry, prunes, tar, menthol, and cocoa. Rich fruit comes across upon sipping - black raspberry, plum and cassis, with a smokey black pepper edge. Well structured with solid tannins and balanced acidity, it's moderately sweet - typical Dow's style - and has a very long finish. This is an awesome Dow's, probably my favorite of the half dozen vintages I've sampled from them, although side by side with the 94 it would be really hard to say which one would reign supreme. Excellent. 95pts, Tasted 3/08

CALEM VINTAGE 1994
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I was initially impressed by this wine as soon as I started to pour it into the decanter. After 13 years (11 in bottle) it's still virtually black at the core, trimmed with a brilliant reddish purple edge - a pretty port. The nose is concentrated and, as perhaps was portended by the appearance of the wine, dark-toned as well. Black mission fig and boysenberry dominate, with hints of prune, sweet strawberry jam, and lavender coming out after being in decanter overnight - a little bit tight still, yet shows good complexity. It's quite impressive on the palate as well - juicy dark cherry and mixed berry fruit is right up front - generous and with a harmonious texture. The tannins just barely start to come out on the mid-palate, but they are quickly subdued by the lushness of the fruit, and even on the finish, which is of medium-long length, it is still the fruit that continues to echo, taking on a tasty licorice nuance as it draws out - no heat showing here at all. This was my first tasting of a Calem VP and I must say that I was really pleased. It shows the great ripeness and up-front fruit of the 94 vintage, with tannins that already come off as so well integrated that you could easily overlook them. This port seems to have a pretty solid underlying structure, and if that structure can hold up long enough to let the big tasty fruit flesh out, it should turn out to be delicious in it's maturity - my guess is that it will start to be at it's best in another 10 years, and will probably drink well for another decade thereafter, if not longer. With a pricetag of $40 retail (at least half, and even up to only one fifth the price of the big name 94's), this is certainly a good bargain in vintage port. 91pts, Tasted 3/08