Seattle Tasting Group does Italians and six decades of Porto hosted by Roy Hersh

Bellevue, WA, USA
Tasted Sunday, April 18, 2004 by Eric with 1,972 views

Introduction

Well, if two days of debauchery weren't enough, Roy Hersh had a third day in store for us on Sunday...

The day started out with a special tasting and lecture on what were the finest ports I have ever tasted in my life. This was a remarkable tasting, and I was so excited by some of the wines that I was literally online buying cases of two of them (1977 Taylor and 1994 Fonseca) on my web-enabled cellphone in the MIDDLE of the tasting. Hey, when you have to have it, you have to have it! Happy, happy day!

Flight 1 - Port (1955-1970) (4 Notes)

  • 1955 Sandeman Porto Vintage 91 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    The color here is still quite dark with a lot of brown but a solid rim, slightly cloudy in the glass. I found the nose on this to be slightly dusty and musty with a strong scent of toffee. On the palate this showed coffee, roasted nuts, and caramel. The wine was gorgeously balanced and silky with a very long finish. This is a beautiful port that is at peak and seems to be have plenty of time ahead.

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  • 1963 Graham Porto Vintage 92 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    This showed the lightest color of the flight with a pink edge. On the nose there is a pretty clear bit of spirit, yet the nose soars from the glass and is almost piercing in the way it hits your sinuses. Wow, the palate on this is very bright and fresh, almost delicate. The port finishes with juicy strawberry and continued brightness with some violet notes. The very end of the finish shows a distinct nuttiness that I found particularly pleasing.

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  • 1966 Sandeman Porto Vintage 95 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    A faded rim with glowing color, very pretty to behold. About half of the folks on the room thought this was lightly corked, but I didn't catch this at all. In fact, this wine had my favorite nose of the flight with a soaring, floral personality, caramel, chocolate and mint. On the palate this was very sweet with a heavy (but not cloying) texture with caramel and tart and juicy fruit. The finish was explosive, very long and complex.

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  • 1970 Dow Porto Vintage 90 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    This is very youthful in color with a deep purple core. On the nose there is a hint of grapiness and mint, yet I found the aromatics to be somewhat reticent. On the youthful palate there is a refreshing blast of wintergreen, but I found the wine to show a fair bit of spirit. The structure is impressive. Others really liked this wine a lot, but I found it to be a tough comparison to the earlier, more mature ports in the flight.

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Flight 2 - Port (1977-1985) (4 Notes)

  • 1977 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage 97 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    On describing this to the other attendees, I popped out with "Oh man, this just rocks!" This actually had the lightest color by far in the flight, but that was a red herring. The nose was quite medicinal and showed some spirit. The palate was utterly seamless with figs, dates, raisins, fruitcake, maple syrup, molasses, and treacle yet with a very silky and vibrant texture. The finish is luscious and long with so much life and elegance. This is the best port I have ever tasted.

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  • 1980 Dow Porto Vintage Flawed

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Unreal color, opaque, black, totally saturated. Alas, the nose is swampy with some seaweed, and there it is, the unmistakeable nose of a heavily corked wine. Drat! I did venture one taste and was amazed by the structure of this. Crap!!!

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  • 1983 Cockburn Porto Vintage 90 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Glowing color yet one of the lighter wines in the flight, only darker than the 1977 Taylor. The nose here was Madeira like with cooked onion. On the palate I got prunes, raisins and an Amarone-like character. The finish burns a bit and still shows alcohol. This is a bit disjointed right now and seems to need a lot of time to settle down and mesh.

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  • 1985 Fonseca Porto Vintage 94 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Very dark color. The nose is youthful and grapey with some chocolate. The palate shows dark fruit, roasted coffee, chocolate and is deep and luscious. The finish is very grippy with awesome structure, very brawny and masculine. This was clearly one of the most structured ports of the tasting.

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Flight 3 - Port (1994-2000) (4 Notes)

  • 1994 Fonseca Porto Vintage 95 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Extremely dark. The nose is dense with lots of violet popping out. On the palate this has a sweet, tightly wrapped core of explosive fruit. The finish is stunningly smooth with chocolate and toffee. For most tasters this was their favorite, although for me this was tied for second with the 1966 Sandeman and two points behind the 1977 Taylor.

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  • 1997 Niepoort Porto Vintage 94 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Dark color. The nose shows tangerine. Wow, this is very silky with a citric edge that provides an interesting freshness. This is tightly knit and pure. It is just so primary right now with a beautiful core of fruit and structure.

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  • 2000 Quinta do Vesuvio Porto Vintage 92 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    Deep color. This is showing much more overt oak than I recall with vanilla and caramel and a certain herbal element. This is a massive wine, yet it is actually smaller in the mouth than the 1997 Niepoort and 1994 Fonseca. The structure here is very impressive, huge and rocking.

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  • NV Porto Rocha Porto Three Centuries 93 Points

    Portugal, Douro, Porto

    The nose is more reminiscent of Madeira than Port with cooked onion. The palate has luscious texture with a sharp, saline element. The unbelievably long finish is nutty and delicious. Did I mention it was long? This is the finest tawny I have ever tasted!

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Flight 4 - Sangiovese (3 Notes)

After we finished the port tasting, we moved next door to a banquet room at Spazzo's Italian Cafe in Bellevue, WA to have a 7 course Italian dinner along with a series of (mostly) Italian wines.

We started with some Sangiovese (and Grosso) based wines to get us rolling with the Gaja (Pieve Santa Restituta) stealing my heart.

Flight 5 - Piedmont (3 Notes)

Then we moved to Piedmont where the Spinetta stole the show!

  • 1999 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barbera d'Asti Superiore Bionzo 92 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti Superiore

    I love these wines. Slutty with raspberry all over the nose and palate. Leathery and chewy, showing delicious Barbera character. This is everything I look for in an over the top Barbera. Luscious!

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  • 1996 Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà 87 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    Very young and painfully tight with drying tannins. The nose shows some dried rose. This seems to have some big upside, but this wine is really tough to drink right now.

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  • 1997 Pio Cesare Barolo 89 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    The nose shows obvious tar. This palate is very smooth with no rough edges, but this is also fairly restrained and lacking in depth and intensity.

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Flight 6 - Super-Tuscan (3 Notes)

The next slight with a memorable dish of grilled Ahi Tuna was a series of Super Tuscan and Umbrian wines. Frankly, for whatever reason I didn't want to like the Tignanello, but it was in fact an elegant wine.

  • 1997 Antinori Tignanello 91 Points

    Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

    This was my bottle, and I liked it a lot more than I wanted to. The nose is very expressive and high-pitched. The palate is huge and shows lots of structure with juicy fruit and somewhat drying acid and tannin on the finish. This is a very powerful wine that needs a LOT more time.

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  • 1998 Sportoletti Umbria Rosso Villa Fidelia 82 Points

    Italy, Umbria

    Oak and blueberry on the nose. On the palate this is very international in style, very round yet monolithic and lifeless. Let it age and hope that it gains some life.

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  • 1995 Brancaia Il Blu Toscana IGT 80 Points

    Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT

    Very austere and angular. Where is the fruit and love in this one? Very unforgiving wine.

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Flight 7 - Cabernet Sauvignon (2 Notes)

Next we had a pair of Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The Quilceda was clearly one of the best dry wines of the weekend.

Flight 8 - Veneto (3 Notes)

Next we moved to Veneto for what should have been a flight of three wines. Alas, I am a farkin' klutz, so the flight ended up at two. Sorry Roy! The Quintarelli was stunning here!

Flight 9 - Dessert (3 Notes)

Finally we finished up with some dessert.

Closing

All in all, it was a remarkable weekend with tasting notes on more than 100 wines, many of them unforgettable. Thanks again Roy for putting it all together!

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