Browse Tag

fortified

Especially for you

Ordoñez & co. 2004 Málaga Moscatel “Seleccion Especial” (Andalucía) – Intense. A warm expression of pure muscat, taking flowers strongly into the realm of orange blossom, and adding a thick, powerful backbeat of spice and warming body. Not complex, but then muscat is far too primary and boisterous to allow much complexity in the vast majority of its expressions. (5/08)

Kitaen

[barge]Burmester Tawny Porto (Douro) – More oxidized than I’d like, showing little other than stale nuts and an acrid sharpness. (2/08)

Burmester “Jockey Club” Porto “Reserva” (Douro) – Brown sugar and maple syrup. OK. (2/08)

Burmester “10 Year” Tawny Porto (Douro) – Complex at the outset, sugary sweetness, with stale fruit but good length. Actually fairly tasty, though it seems older than its constituent parts. (2/08)

Burmester “20 Year” Tawny Porto (Douro) – Spiced brandy but pleasantly mild overall, with complex sugars and a long, creamy finish. (2/08)

Burmester 1985 Colheita Porto (Douro) – Cigar and old Armagnac, very spicy, with balanced sweetness but a touch of heat on the finish. Impressive length. (2/08)

Alexander Bell

Graham’s 1994 Porto (Douro) – Pure sweetness, mixed cherries. The finish is decent. It appears to be open, but it’s not showing much, so maybe it’s all an illusion. (2/08)

Ruby Dee

[cases]Burmester Ruby Porto (Douro) – Simple dark cherry syrup with dual burning sensations of acidity and alcohol. (2/08)

Burmester “Sotto Voce” Porto “Reserve” (Douro) – Spiced walnut and good, dark fruit. Nice. (2/08)

Burmester 2001 “Late Bottled Vintage” Porto (Douro) – Balanced and structured, full-fruited (black cherry, blueberry, boysenberry), with a long, spicy finish. Very nice. (2/08)

Burmester 2005 Porto (Douro) – Tannin and tarragon-dominated, with spiky acidity, stale nut skins, and an odd finish. Weird. (2/08)

Venise beach

Perrin & Fils 2005 Muscat Beaumes de Venise (Rhône) – Very fruity, fresh, and fun, tending more towards the concentrated, bright, spring-like fruit elements than the more exotic flowers or perfumes. The best BdVs have a core of crystalline minerality which this lacks, but it’s hard to criticize this wine much. Even average muscat is still pretty good. (2/08)

Elliot & Patrick

Gould-Campbell 2003 Porto (Douro) – Spiced raspberry. Medium-sweet. Light tannin. Honestly, this wine is almost hollow; a shell of a vintage Port. (2/07)

Fonseca is stronger than you

[vineyard]Fonseca 1985 Porto (Douro) – Coffee, red and black fruit, cinnamon and nutmeg. Very sweet, with good intensity and a medium-weight aspect. Parts are smoothing into maturity, but some mitigation of the extreme sweetness would be welcome. In time, in time. (1/08)

Accusations of Byass

[tio pepe]Gonzalez Byass “Tio Pepe” Palomino Fino Sherry “Extra Dry” (Jerez) – Shy nose, shy and soft palate, some raw green olive. A beginner’s Sherry. There’s nothing wrong with that, but aficionados will find little of interest here, and even novice experimenters will move on rather quickly. (11/07)

Noval idea

Quinta do Noval 1997 “Late Bottled Vintage” Porto (Douro) – Still quite primary, with big, juicy berries in a fine fruit syrup plus a dense layer of ripe tannin and surprisingly vivid acidity. There’s absolutely no reason to open this one now. (9/07)