Some Fortified Wines To End The Tasting Season

The last tasting of the year in our mothly tasting group and Mikke of course delievered the goods, as he did last year.
All wines tasted double blind, except for the last one which we knew that it was a 2016.

1950 Sercial, Leacock´s
A fine, delicate nose with notes of dried yellow plums, dates, rum raisins, salt rocks and a hint of saw dust. Deep and complex.
The taste is multi layered and complex with notes of fried nut, bakelite, dried tangerines and a fine salty note. Very long. A high intensity. A very fine acidity but I remember this wine with a searing acidity the times I have tasted it, some 10 years ago. It has mellowed, at least this bottle.
91p   (tasted 2018/12)

1982 Colheita Bual, Cossart Gordon
A spicy, fine, deep nose with notes of cold mulled wine, French nougat, warm dust and ginger bread. Very fine.
The taste is big and concentrated with notes of dark plums, dades, smoke and fried nuts. A long, long finish with a fine combination of alcohol, acidity and body.
92p   (tasted 2018/12)

1988 Colheita Terrantez, d´Olivieras
Aaaaaah, this has depth and complexity in spades! A very deep, intoxicating nose with notes of plums, detergent, old leather, undergrowth, stables and nougat. Very, very fine.
The taste is tight and concentrated with notes of chocolate covered apricots, smoke, old tobacco and chrushed rocks. A high, fine acidity. The finish is counted in minutes. Just stunning.
95p   (tasted 2018/12)

2011 Pedro Ximénez de Añada, Alvear
Oh dear, this is not good. Apparently a 100p Parker wine...this wine is oxidized and cloying at the same time, from the get go to the finish. The first smell is that of a cheap strawberry wine that has started a secondary, not wanted fermentation. Then it has some wet cardboard scents, without being corked. All over the place, and not in any good places. Not fortified but pushing 17% alcohol.
The taste, ooh the taste, sweet, surupy and did I mentioned sweet? Sweet is good if there is a balancing acidity. There isn´t. 100p? Oh dear.
67p   (tasted 2018/12)

1978 Colheita Port, Kopke
Aaah, back to some good wine! A deep, concentrated nose with notes of raisins, dried dark flowers, blue ski wax, dades and the fine aroma of a childhood plastic car track that has gotten warm. Very, very good.
The taste is steady and fine with notes of fried nuts, raisins, fir wood, licorice covered chocolate and asphalt. Very long with a fine warmth. Some maturity. Really fine.
93p   (tasted 2018/12)

2016 Vintage Port, Dow´s
Well, we did now that it was a 16 Port, and the colour - pitch black - was a kind of give away... The nose is high and fine with notes of blackberries, violets, scorched earth and raspberry licorice. Given this blind I would, on the nose alone, ventured that this would be a well behaved Zinfandel or a more modern Aglianico, not a fortified wine.
The taste is broad and tight with notes of ripe blueberries, graphite, violets and dark chocolate. Some green raisins in the finish. A fine structure, but for a very young Port, the tannins are very well behaved and on the smooth side of things. For you youngsters, give this 20+ years and tell me how it turned out.
91p   (tasted 2018/12)