WTN: Various Bordeaux + 75 Fonseca

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1988 Giscours

An easy drinking wine showing medium bodied almost violety fruit on the nose. On the palate there is ripe fruit with soft tannins and a slight lack of acidity with not a great length on the finish. Parker thinks that this wine is dreadful (78) but I disagree albeit I would not say that it is a great wine by any stretch of the imagination. The bottle that I had was quite pleasant and easy to drink although after an hour or so in the decanter the fruit was beginning to show rather badly

1982 Montrose

Typically St. Estephe. Very fine fruit although it seemed a little closed and not fully mature. Still retains a very youthful colour; a nose of sweet fruit with very gentle oak and cigar-box aromas. Full fruit on the palate with an earthy, liquorice, cassisy fruit. Exceptional acidity and tannins - great length.

1964 Latour

I have been lucky to have this several times, but usually in half bottles but this time in a 75cl bottle. The colour is fantastic for a wine pushing 40 years - a slight browning on the edges but still retaining a deep ruby colour. There is a fantastic amount of rich ripe fruit on the nose with full cassis fruit. On the palate the acidity and tannins are very soft (not really surprising for the age) but the wine fills the mouth gloriously. Still very elegant and a bottle that I really enjoyed (although I usually think that there is little point keeping wines for so long as they generally loose their fruit).

1975 Fonseca

A really surprising bottle. I was under the impression that all the 75s were now thin and excessively spirity but this was still showing an acceptable amount of fruit. It was a little thin but was still very drinkable. I do not know what the bottle variances are with Ports of this ilk but it would be interesting to try again.