Semi-Great Vintage Port Tasting
Vintage 1988
The Wine Society 18% had a Semi-Great Tasting 15 September 2016 of the Vintage 1988. This Vintage was an off vintage, and was judge as Average. Known Brands was 16 and only 11 houses declared. Michael Broadbent gave this vintage * out of 5*.
We call it Semi-Great because we had only 10 Vintages and 1 LBV and not 20 Vintages which is our limit for calling it a Great Tasting. In addition to the 11 Vintages we had one extra port in order to remember one of our members who have died during the summer. This was a Vintage 1931 from Hunt. We were 14 participants in the tasting. The tasting was blind.
See Our Points to translate it to 100 points scale. The vintage made some very attractive wines, but it is not surprising none of the major houses declared 1988. We think the wines are rather lean and one-dimensional, but some are very attractive and worth hunting and some will even develop a little more which surprise us.
Terra Feita and Vargellas 1988
Tasting notes. Note that the points are for the actual bottle tasted. Read about how we set point on the page "How to understand our points valuations"
Sort on: Name Sten's rank Jörgen's rank Stefan's rank Group's rank
House | Churchill LBV | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Still blue and dark in colour. |
Bouquet | Mulberry, toffee, cacao, some violet and vanilla in the nose. |
Taste | Medium body. Mature and peaking. Cacao and toffee in taste. Quite elegant but rather dry with a rather short but quite nice finish |
SAI point | 15.90 | JB point | 15.75 | SS point | 15.25 | Group point | 15.11 |
SAI rank | 7 | JB rank | 4 | SS rank | 9 | Group rank | 7 |
Comment | bottled 1993 |
House | Fonseca Guimaraens | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Still very dark but with a yellow mature colour. |
Bouquet | Toffee, cacao, butterscotch, violet, ginger and old grocery shop in the nose. |
Taste | Quite full-bodied. Mature and now almost peaking but will probably be better. Elegant and balanced port. Very tasty with cacao, coffee, butterscotch and much more in taste. Complex with a wonderful finish. |
SAI point | 16.90 | JB point | 16.75 | SS point | 16.75 | Group point | 16.70 |
SAI rank | 1 | JB rank | 1 | SS rank | 1 | Group rank | 3 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta do Bomfim Dow | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Mature, quite yellow in colour. |
Bouquet | Fudge, crème caramel, dark chocolate dark berry and vanilla in the nose. |
Taste | Almost full-bodied. Mature and peaking and surprisingly sweet but balanced and elegant. Tasty with violet and cacao in the mouth. Quite long and attractive finish. |
SAI point | 16.00 | JB point | 15.40 | SS point | 15.50 | Group point | 15.39 |
SAI rank | 6 | JB rank | 9 | SS rank | 7 | Group rank | 5 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta da Cavadinha Warre | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Amber, yellow mature in colour. |
Bouquet | Toffee, crème caramel, liquorice, dried fruit, cacao and roasted coffee in the nose. |
Taste | Medium body. Mature and now peaking. Elegant and balanced but quite sweet. Cacao, peaches and dried fruit in taste. Quite nice finish. |
SAI point | 15.90 | JB point | 15.50 | SS point | 15.40 | Group point | 14.61 |
SAI rank | 7 | JB rank | 7 | SS rank | 8 | Group rank | 9 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta do Panascal | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Yellow mature in colour. |
Bouquet | Cacao, coffee, old grocery shop, cherry, some liquorice and dried fruit in the nose. |
Taste | Medium body. Mature and peaking Will probably not be better but have still some elegant tannin. Cacao, dried fruit and some coffee in taste. Quite attractive finish. |
SAI point | 16.25 | JB point | 15.75 | SS point | 15.90 | Group point | 15.71 |
SAI rank | 5 | JB rank | 4 | SS rank | 5 | Group rank | 4 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta de la Rosa | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Mature, yellow in colour. |
Bouquet | Crème caramel, cacao, toffee, coffee and dried fruit and Christmas spiciness in the nose. |
Taste | Medium body. Mature and peaking. Will probably not be better but has still some very elegant and soft tannin. Christmas spiciness, cacao and dried fruit in taste. Balanced with sweetness but very elegant. Have a quite attractive and complex finish. |
SAI point | 16.40 | JB point | 15.90 | SS point | 15.75 | Group point | 16.25 |
SAI rank | 4 | JB rank | 3 | SS rank | 6 | Group rank | 6 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta do Sagrado Calem | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Yellow mature in colour. |
Bouquet | Pharmacy, old hospital with ether but also some dark berry and dried fruit in the nose. |
Taste | Medium body. Not balanced with some volatile acidity with some pharmacy in taste but quite drinkable but not quite enjoyable. Better in taste than in nose. The finish is acceptable. |
SAI point | 13.90 | JB point | 13.90 | SS point | 13.90 | Group point | 13.18 |
SAI rank | 10 | JB rank | 10 | SS rank | 10 | Group rank | 10 |
Comment | This bottled is defect but not undrinkable |
House | Quinta de Terra Feita Taylor | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Still quite dark but yellow quite mature in colour. |
Bouquet | Cacao, fudge, butterscotch, some roasted coffee and a hint of menthol in the nose. |
Taste | Almost full-bodied. Mature and peaking. Some menthol and fudge in taste. Balanced a hint of sweetness but elegant with an attractive and quite long finish. |
SAI point | 16.50 | JB point | 16.00 | SS point | 16.50 | Group point | 16.11 |
SAI rank | 3 | JB rank | 2 | SS rank | 2 | Group rank | 2 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta de Vargellas Taylor | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Still very dark but a nice yellow mature rim in colour. |
Bouquet | Crème caramel, some violet, butterscotch, liquorice, roasted coffee beans, and dark chocolate in the nose. |
Taste | Almost full-bodied. Almost mature and peaking bur still soft tannin and will probably be better. Balanced and elegant. Violet, cacao and crème caramel in taste. A lovely complex port with a quite long and very attractive finish. |
SAI point | 16.75 | JB point | 15.75 | SS point | 16.40 | Group point | 16.25 |
SAI rank | 2 | JB rank | 4 | SS rank | 3 | Group rank | 1 |
Comment | |
House | Quinta do Vau Sandeman | Vintage | 1988 |
Colour | Yellow mature in colour. |
Bouquet | Toffee, roasted coffee, fudge, cherry and cedar in the nose. |
Taste | Medium body. Mature and on top. Sweet but balance and quite elegant. Butterscotch, cherry and fudge in taste. Rather long and very nice finish. Will not be better so drink up! |
SAI point | 15.75 | JB point | 15.50 | SS point | 16.25 | Group point | 15.00 |
SAI rank | 9 | JB rank | 7 | SS rank | 4 | Group rank | 8 |
Comment | |