Ramos Pinto Vintage Port 1985

Description

Rated 94 Drink Date 2016 – 2045 Reviewed by Mark Squires Issue Date 28th Oct 2016 Source 227, The Wine Advocate The 1994 Vintage Port has a little extra Tinta Barroca this year, so I’m told. It helps produce a wine with modest concentration, but expressive fruit and plenty of power. Emphasizing its finesse, this grew on me as it aired, the big finish delivering plenty of flavor. The grip on the finish is impressive and that may be its best feature. It lingers nicely. This issue isn’t particularly focused on oldies for Port, but October is my typical "oldies" time and Ramos Pinto provides us with some seriously old library wines here. It starts with the 1880 Porto Velho (the technical name for it; it cannot be called a Vintage Port as it predates the creation of the Port Wine Institute). Then, we add some Vintage Ports from the modern era in a nice vertical, along with other oldies. This is an intriguing collection if you’re a Port lover. Needless to say, the very old wines are library wines that are mostly interesting data points rather than items for sale. In terms of drinking windows, it is fair to say that with wines that age this long, end-date windows are more place holders for a general view of an era than precise dates. .