1994 | Fonseca | Vintage Port

Dessert Wine: 1994 | Fonseca | Vintage Port

Very deep in color, with a restrained, underlying fruit nose, brooding yet ripe: not giving away much. Soft and ripe initially with big structured tannins building in the mouth, and leading to a massive peacocks tail of a finish.

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Producer: Fonseca

Ratings: WA | 97 WS | 100

Vintage: 1994

Size: 750ml

ABV: 20%

Varietal: Port Blend Red

Country/Region: Portugal, Douro

Very deep in color, with a restrained, underlying fruit nose, brooding yet ripe: not giving away much. Soft and ripe initially with big structured tannins building in the mouth, and leading to a massive peacocks tail of a finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: One of the most spectacular 1994s, this opaque purple-colored wine is an exotic, flamboyant, ostentatious port. Extremely fragrant and pungent, with a flashy display of jammy cassis, pepper, licorice, and truffles, this port is an attention-grabber. Awesomely rich, and full-bodied, with superb length, richness, and overall balance, it possesses a huge mid-palate, layers of flavor, an unctuous texture, and a blockbuster finish. Everything is in place, with the brandy and tannin well-integrated, even concealed by the masses of fruit and glycerin. This wine will drink fabulously well at age ten, but keep for up to thirty years.

• Wine Spectator: Hold on to your hat. This is the best Fonseca since 1977, and it’s probably even better than that classic vintage–more like the breathtaking 1948. Mind-blowing, with masses of color, aroma and fruit flavor. Smells like fermenting berries, boasting loads of crushed grape, violet and berry character. Big, full-bodied and very sweet, with tons of tannins and a sweet finish. Tannic and huge, it’s a long-term, great Port.

Producer Information

Fonseca is a well-regarded Port house producing quality wines and known for the lush, exotic style of its vintage Port releases. Encompassing three quintas (vineyard estates) across the Douro region, the house makes a variety of Port styles, ranging from the reserve ruby, Bin 27, to white ports and Tawny ports of various ages. Fonseca’s vintage releases are the most notable, however, and several vintages have attracted 100-point ratings and glowing reviews from major wine critics. In years deemed not good enough for the top Port, a earlier-drinking label called Guimaraens Vintage is released. The three quintas, or vineyard estates, are located in the Cima Corgo (above the Corgo River and its confluence with the Douro), around the town of Pinho. The Cima Corgo is the more central region, located between the Baixa (lower) Corgo to the west, closer to Porto, and the Douro Superior, which stretches to the border with Spain. Two of the quintas, Quinta do Cruzeiro and Quinta de Santo Antnio, are in the Pinho Valley and have supplied Fonseca with grapes for over a century. The former is associated with providing tannic backbone and dense black fruit to the vintage port, while the latter estate provides aromatic complexity. Quinta do Panascal in the Tvora Valley is a newer purchase (it was acquired in 1978) and gives rich, jammy flavors and texture. It is also the source for the Single Quinta Vintage wine which bears its name. Fonseca was founded in 1815 by the Fonseca and Monteiro families, with the Guimaraens family taking over during the second half of the 19th Century. In 1949, the company was sold to Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman which had loaned Fonseca considerable sums since the outbreak of war in 1939. Despite this ownership, Fonseca is run as a separate entity and various members of the Guimaraens family have held key positions ever since.