u/Gr8Autoxr

So far my favorite port has been the Taylor fladgate tawny port. Help my pick what’s next? any vintage ports with similar profiles you all enjoy?

Happy Friday

So, Beaulieu Vineyard BV Coastal Estates Merlot from 2002.

no idea where I got this. I think this was a grocery story buy when I was 21. My dad liked BV so, idk what I was thinking.

Actually tastes amazing considering it’s never been in a wine cooler and I’m fairly sure it was left in a hot storage until for a couple years. Full of acidity and brightness. Color, red with a garnet rim. Nose is port-ish, figs, dried red fruit. Tastes like cherries, raspberries, a little oak, grippy. Totally blown away this has life for such a cheap wine. I won’t be storing $10 wine like this again, but to all the people out there thinking something is dead, drink it becuase you just never know.

What a fun adventure! i have been drinking these recently, the Eagle rare more than the others of course and me missus helped pour, so I could try them blind.

First, I noticed my rank on smell alone mirrored my palette. Second, I was shocked by the results.

Eagle Rare. Last place - Maybe not a truly fair comparison since it was lower in proof but the complexity was just not there in comparison. What was good tasting on my own , falls when compared to the others. $35 also the cheapest of the bunch. Not bad, but not quite wow either.

EHSB. 3rd place - Better more complex with more integrated flavors. Same mash bill as the Eagle, but more. makes me wonder what the barrel proof tastes like in comparison

knob 12. 2nd place - The newest edition. This somehow tastes lighter than the rest? More oak-ish but more refined, delicate, and subtle.

JDHB: first place - yeah boy. Brown sugar on the nose and on the palette. So delicious, complex, Vanilla, and brown sugar, but still integrated oak. I was shocked it was so much better tasting than the others and that it was first.