1994 Dow Porto Vintage

Community Tasting Notes (313) Avg Score: 93.5 points

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  4/13/2024 - tomandlu wrote: 96 Points

  The cork was dry at the top and fell into the bottle when I tried to remove with an osso. It was clearly sound, though. Decanted the wine and started poured a glass immediately. The nose was soaring, complex, and intense from the first whiff with aromas of mint, eucalyptus, cranberries, tobacco, Asian spices, figs, and hot iron. Wow. I expected a free-for-all on the palate but instead I got a beautifully balanced, even graceful, intense, rich, fruity, and elegant palate impression. Wow, again. The finish was long, at least 45 seconds, with more iron and fruit and just a hint of fine tannin remaining. These impressions staid pretty much unchanged for 2+ hours of drinking. What really struck me in the end, though, was that the alcohol was never a feature. I've had more powerful, more complex, and more intense ports in the past but I've rarely had one that balanced all of those traits so gracefully. Purchased on release and stored in my cellar since.

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  4/9/2024 - gmbdds wrote: 93 Points

  Opened at Christmas and drank well for a month. I kept a few dregs until now and forgot to take it out of inventory. Notes are largely lost to time but I remember a still quite primary but delicious deep fruit and chocolate wine.

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  3/30/2024 - Musigny1955 wrote: 95 Points

  Purchased on release in fulls and halves, 750 bottle #6 of 12. No ullage, cork crumbled a bit. Forgot to decant before serving, yet still had super length, complexity, nose, forever finish. Rich yet drier Dow style works very well. This wine has been firing on all cylinders for the last half-decade, halves may be showing a bit more maturity than fulls. Not a drop left after the dinner party! If had decanted would probably been 96 or higher.

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  3/24/2024 - jmcelroy Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Phenomenal bottle of vintage Port. Delicious 1st day and on 2nd day had really opened beautifully.

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  2/23/2024 - 2ndvinwine Likes this wine:

  My second half bottle was not nearly as good as the first. I rated the first 100/100. This one had a bit more fire on the pallet from the high alcohol content. Not as smooth as my first bottle. The bottles were purchased from the same case and aged together.
  
  Good, but not exceptional like the first half bottle.

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