Reeewiiiiiiiind...

So, now that several weeks have gone by without the posting of any new tasting notes, I'm sure you're wondering what the hell is going on. Well, I discovered the forum boards on fortheloveofport.com and starting posting my notes on there. In the meantime I've neglected my duties on JS so, here we go. Six bottles of port have hit the deck since my last post, so here in chronological order, and without further ado...

Dow's Quinta do Bonfim 1995
A rather flat purple hue with a wide burgundy rim showing a brownish tinge. The nose has a slightly baked and meaty character to it and displays notes of prune, cherry, dried blueberries, and some noticable spirit. Pleasant dark berry fruit on the palate, moderately sweet, and showing just a dash of that cocoa character that I always seem to notice in Dow's vintages. The mid-palate takes on a spicy/spirity edge and drops off into a rather short finish, leaving me a bit disappointed. An enjoyable port, especially considering the affordable price, but doesn't stack up to the to the level of excellence that I'm accustomed to from Dow's. I would drink this one in the near term. Tasted 4/23, 85pts

Quinta de la Rosa Vintage 2000
Just popped this last night and enjoyed it very much...Blackish purple at the core with a purplish burgundy rim - very young looking. It took a good 4 to 5 hours for the nose to come around. When it did it offered a sweet smelling bouquet of raspberry, black mission fig, dark chocolate, and a whiff of roses. The palate shows cherry/blackberry fruit that is concentrated, sweet, and very chocolatey, with a peppery spiciness that hits you right up front and continues through the well balanced, medium length finish. There's a mouthwatering quality to the acidity and the tannins are firm but softly textured. Scrumptious and quite well balanced. Probably a good one to age for the medium-term. I sipped this again today after 24 hours of decanting with consistent notes, though its grip had mellowed out somewhat. Tasted 4/08, 91pts

Churchill's Crusted Porto (Bottled 2002)
I've always been curious to try a crusted port. If memory serves me correctly, this is only the second or third one that I've come across in my years of perusing wine shops in the NY/NJ area (I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a Dow's crusted port - does that sound right? Come to think of it, does anyone know exactly which houses produce this style of port? (I'm guessing it's a limited number)). I just picked this one up today at a local shop here in Brooklyn and decanted it about three and a half hours ago.

The bottle states: "Churchill's Crusted Port is a blend of the very best Ports from two different years*. Matured for 2 years in sesoned oak casks, it is then bottled and laid down to age in our cellars for at least 3 years before being released for sale."

*Interesting that they don't tell us which 2 years are in the bottle!

Here are my notes as I'm sipping...

A dark burgundy in color with a bright cherry candy colored rim; pretty. The nose is already quite open, dominated by sweet black raspberry fruit along with notes of grape skins, cherries, dried herbs, and a subtle roasted coffee bean/chocolate undertone. The palate has gained in weight with each glass, now solidly medium bodied, with smooth, sweet fruit up front, lots of raspberry again, taking on a slightly darker edge on the midpalate, a touch of spice, and showing a subtle chocolatey quality, again echoing the nose. There's good balance here and a respectably long finish, though the tannins are very tame, making it particularly easy to just keep on sipping. I'm enjoying this a great deal. It's not on the level of a serious VP, but probably as good as any LBV that I've had to date. At $25 I'd definitely call it a bargain. I'll follow up as the night progresses if there are any evolutions of note, and perhaps post my notes on my impressions tomorrow if it lasts that long (read: chances of that are nil).

Coming down towards the end of the bottle now with over 7 hours of decanting. This port continued to darken in character, now taking on some blackberry and licorice notes on the nose and showing a darker edge to the palate also. The tannins have also begun to emerge, showing a slightly more mouth-drying quality than they did earlier. Very nice stuff and maybe even a little more firmly structured than I thought at first... Tasted 4/08, 87/88pts

Warre's Quinta da Cavadinha 1987
I bought this bottle at a rather dubious shop over on 2nd Avenue in Midtown near where I work. I can't say that I'm all that comfortable buying port there as the place is a little dingy, they have all of their vintage ports (including some older bottles) standing up, and the staff doesn't offer anything in the way of assistance. I had just happened to pop in there one day on my lunch break and discovered that they actually have a very nice selection of vingtage port, some at good prices. I bought a couple of bottles there previously that showed very well, so I decided to give it another whirl, despite the shaky circumstances. I've had lots of Warre's VP's, but never a Cavadinha, so I was intrigued.

My girlfriend and I popped it last night when we got home from work. The cork looked clean, but as I pulled it out , it crumbled to bits - not the most auspicious of signs. We decanted it thruough an extra-thorough chunk of cheesecloth to ensure that no cork bits infiltrated the decanter. It seemed to work well as the port came through clean. We had a glass just after decanting, drank some more a few hours later, and finished it off about an hour ago, which was roughly 24 hours after decanting. Although it did open up noticibly between the initial glass and the following tasting, it was drinking consistenly tonight with how it showed last night, just a bit mellower. My notes were as follows:

Quite dark - purple/burgundy with a vague ruddiness evident on the rim. The nose is moderately expressive, if somewhat simple. I noted cherry fruit with a prominent prune character and a mild musty/earthiness that was not unpleasant. Prune and cherry fruit come through strongly again on the front of the palate, slightly stewed, though not overly so (perhaps due to poor temperature control while sitting on that shelf for who-knows-how-long?). The midpalate adds some licorice into the mix as well as a little spirit, but this integrated by the second day, and the tannins are soft and mellow. The finish is surprisingly long with lingering notes of brown sugar and bitters. Tasty stuff, nothing to complain about really, outside of the stewed edge that I mentioned, but not exceptional either. However, considering the very questionable provenance of the bottle, along with the poor cork, I have to wonder if a better stored example might show better. Going by the bottle I tasted, I'd guess this probably has another 10 years or so of good drinking left in it, maybe a little longer. Tasted 5/08, 85pts

Quinta de Ventozelo 10 Year Tawny
I found this bottle while I was up in Albany this weekend. Until just recently I had never even heard of this producer, and this is the first one of their ports that I've ever come across - a good enough reason as any to check it out...

The color is almost fully tawny with rusty orange highlights and just a touch of reddish-pink still evident under good light. The nose is very pleasant with warm notes of figs, vanilla, hazelnuts, and butterscotch. Medium Intensity and sweetness on the palate, showing good balance. Figs come through strongly again, with a hint of strawberry fruit as well, building to a dash of spiciness and finishing long and smooth with roasted nuts and brown sugar notes carrying on for a good 30 seconds. Pretty much has all of the qualities I would look for in a 10-year tawny - a very nice example of the style. Tasted 5/08, 88pts


Smith-Woodhouse Colheita 1986
Mostly tawny, but not completely, still showing a little bit of red in its burnt orange hue with a honey colored rim. The nose is generous and complex, the dominant character being something like cherry-vanilla and kola nuts with secondary notes of orange marmalade, sandalwood, apple pie, and spices. Quite rich and sweet on the palate, though not cloying at all, with a mildly viscous texture. I found the flavors redolent of caramelized walnuts, candied apples, a touch of raspberry fruit still way in the background, and a compliment of spicy cinnamon. A fresh acidity kicks in on the back end of the palate, cutting the sweetness and balancing everything out. The finish is smooth and very persistent with the wine still coating the mouth and the flavors still lingering long after swallowing. Delicious colheita – rich but well balanced - I would certainly recommend it if you can find it. Tasted 5/08, 93pts