Simon Field | Lifted with an episcopal varnish; dense at the core, blue at the mizzen; an unusual color and a slightly dusty nose; give it air, give it time; time, always wanting after such a long slumber, always required with the best examples. So, some time later, the dust has dissipated, the varnish is acceptable, a little leitmotif of elevation to be venerated. The fruit character is very 1985, for all that: generous, straightforward, just a little syrupy. The aromatic is still a little off-putting, however, which is a shame. | 89

Andrew Jefford | This wine has now lost its opacity and is translucent to the core, but the hue is dark, and there is still plenty of red-black at the heart and scarlet at the rim. It is rather laid-back in aromatic style but offers plenty to charm and draw the drinker in: strawberry and cherry fruits, some plum jam, too, with a vanilla and milk-chocolate sweetness. Unshowy but soft, stealthy, comely. In fact, half an hour of air improves this wine enormously: there is a creamy wealth and a meaty resource to it that wasn’t at all evident earlier. Not primary or simply sweet in any sense now, but complex and aromatically rewarding. On the palate, it is very ripe, very rich, the fruits mostly fig and date and the palate in general tottering into a toffeed, caramel and fudged-up old age. This, of course, can be enjoyed. And I have to say there are tannins, too, which keep everything on the straight and narrow, so it is quite serious Vintage Port, albeit in ultra-ripe style. I wouldn’t wait too long, for all that. | 89

Richard Mayson | Deep, with plenty of youthful color and a pinkish rim; sullen, perhaps even tight-knit on the nose, but opening up to reveal lovely purity of fruit, lovely linear appeal on the palate, firm and seamless, some bittersweet dark-chocolate intensity and a long, lithe, linear finish. Lovely balance and poise here sets this wine up well for a long future. | 96