Simon Field: Dense colour, near-opaque core, then a firm nose, confident and classy. Forest floor, kirsch liqueur and prune with an echo of sweet fruit. Very promising! On the palate, the wine is surprisingly austere - from the drier school of thought but none the worse for that. Complex yet ripe, attractive yet intellectual, this is a challenging and impressive wine, plenty of power and with a long way to go to achieve full maturity. 18

Andrew Jefford: Very dark and promising, almost youthful. Still lots to give: terse, dark, good fresh fruit and real ripe pungency come charging out of here. Great harmony now, but a sense that added time would bring still more articulacy. Dense, full, rich, rounded, with a lovely frank and forthcoming quality of fruit with trumpet-blasts of spice - a kind of Nuits-St-Georges quality to this fruit, in other words. It will never be the most challenging Port ever made, but it is going to satisfy, and satisfy, and satisfy... Really, the best of these 1980s are much better than they ought to be! The more I taste this (and I have revisited at the end of the tasting), the more sensual nuance it seems to acquire. An outstanding achievement. 18.5

Richard Mayson: Very good, deep youthful colour, withathin ruby rim. Ripe, voluptuous berry fruit, though still withdrawn with more to give. Very ripe and fleshy on the palate, sweet and rich if a little simple. Very satisfying, though, and a good drink. Broad, ripe, spicy tannic length; still a little raw around the edges but very good indeed. 16.5