1994 Vintage Port Horizontal
Trific
Tasted October 11, 2016 by octopussy with 507 views
Introduction
Drinking vintage port all night is not something you do every day. It was all the more interesting to be part of a 1994 Vintage Port horizontal tasting with pretty much all well-known wines. I am not much of a port expert, not at all actually. But it was exciting to see the different styles and get them explained by the port experts on the table. 1994 was a good vintage for vintage port and most wines were still driven by fresh fruit with just a few wines that had dried fruit or a lot of secondary notes. Most wines still seemed very very young with unresolved tannins, primary fruit and a voluptous body. But most of them drank exceptionally well.
All wines had been double decanted 24 hours before and we drank them from fairly small glasses at slightly below room temperature.
Flight 1 - The Competing Forces (3 notes)
This flight comprised three Port houses that were independent and family owned back then.
Red - Fortified
1994 Niepoort Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Pale light cherry red. In the nose, it's herbal and red fruity, but it unfortunately has a slight vinegar note, which kills the nose. In the mouth, this is beautiful, Swiss herb candy, great structure, velvety, clear cherry fruit in the finish. If it wasn't for the slight vinegar note in the nose, this would have been great. It was still enjoyable.
Red - Fortified
1994 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Medium cherry red. In the nose, this is dense, cool, very fine, dark, but it has a slight whiff of alcohol if it becomes too warm. In the mouth, it's also dense, it's super tannic, still very young, the sweetness is well balanced, this is all about structure at the moment. There's some heat in the finish, but it's not overbearing.
Red - Fortified
1994 Cockburn Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Cherry red. The nose was slightly dumb and muted, quite creamy, not precise. In the mouth, it's dense, a bit simple, spicy in the finish, but with strong bitter notes at the very end. Maybe a bad bottle, but in any case this was not much fun to drink.
Flight 2 - The Symington Family (3 notes)
In this flight, we had the three best known ports from Symington.
Red - Fortified
1994 Dow Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Cherry red. In the nose, it's clear and airy, but with a firm core. Raspberry, black cherry, slight floral notes. In the mouth, this is quite sweet with notes of Marzipan, brittle tannins, not much acidity. Great length with raspberry candy notes in the finish.
Red - Fortified
1994 Quinta do Vesuvio Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Cherry red. In the nose, this is rich and dense, black chocolate, earth, raspberry, quite dark overall, but with lighter overtones. In the mouth, it's also quite rich, fruit driven, with very fine tannin, great structure, quite prominent sweetness, but with excellent length with fine bitter notes, an almost stony mouthfeel and something ethereal as well. Great fun to drink.
Red - Fortified
1994 Graham Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Dark red. In the nose, this is noble and restrained, almost seeming closed down, very fine, some cherry, Swiss herb candy. In the mouth, this is fruity, it has a lot of tannin, it's a nicely tart, quite sweet, brittle. The finish starts with tense minerality and then slowly calms down. Great port that tells a story.
Flight 3 - The Fladgate Partnership (3 notes)
In the last flight, we had three ports from Fladgate.
Red - Fortified
1994 Croft Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Dense and dark cherry red. In the nose, there's dried fruit (prunes, dried blackberry), chocolate, Marzipan, it's dark and dense and plump. In the mouth, it's dense and creamy, quite sweet with pruney notes, but with great balance and a not too heavy finish. It may lack a bit of individuality, but this drinks like classic vintage port.
Red - Fortified
1994 Fonseca Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Very dark cherry red. In the nose, this is fine, subtle, laid back, quite firm, rather light in its fruit profile, very complex, creamy. There are notes of peach and smashed plums. In the mouth, this is light and super fine, peach and raspberry, almost peach melba like, very creamy, greatly balanced, silky, soft and full of subtlety in the long finish. More of a "softie" kind of Port, especially when drank next to the 1994 Taylor's, but in its particular style, this is super well made.
Red - Fortified
1994 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Dark cherry red. In the nose, this is really dark, almost evil, a "Darth Vader" kind of wine. At the same time it's noble, elegant, restrained and cool. Not that fruity at the moment, but with a beautiful blackberry note coupled with some charcoal. In the mouth, it's extremely noble, almost perfectly balanced, super silky tannins, not that sweet, black fruit again, but with noticeable light overtones at the very rear end. Great minerality, complexity and lots of nuances in the very very long finish. In a word: terrific.
Closing
To sum it up, my favorite flight was the Fladgate flight with the Fonseca and the Taylor's coming in first and the Croft a bit behind, but still providing a lot of pleasure with its great balance of dark and lighter notes and its dense mouthfeel. Also the Symington Family flight was great with the Vesuvio as a very rich, but also very pleasing vintage port in the center of this flight. The first flight was a bit of a disappointment, the Cockburn not providing much drinking pleasure, the Niepoort being slightly compromised by a mild vinegar note and the Noval being great, but also being the port where the alcohol was showing more than in the other ports. Happy to do this again any time.
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