Simon Field | Mahogany withatouch of dramatic bloodletting at the rim; Ribera depicting the saints in agony; an old-fashioned nose of bacon rind, overripe plums, and fireworks; white pepper and camphor, too. The palate is less assertive, the dried fruits and hothouse plants having settled down; the spirit well-integrated, and the finish reassuring, with peacock-tail definition and refreshing spices that recall aniseed and cinnamon. | 89

Andrew Jefford | Another dark, black-red Port, and still opaque at its core. There is a little more bricking at the meniscus than for [Ramos Pinto 1982], which has a redder rim. It’s deep and sturdy and reassuring to sniff, with lots of grand bass aromas: bramble fruits, tar, treacle, raisin, plum pie, and Christmas pud. This is a less flamboyant and fleshy wine than [Ramos Pinto 1982], but it is dense and close- textured and no less generous in its own way. (It comes across as even sweeter.) I like the way the strings are drawn in here, and the complexity of the fruits (damson and mulberry, as well as plum and bramble, at least on the palate). There is also some finishing extractive squeeze to bring the treacle-raisin sweetness to heel. Very good, though once again a wine that I wouldn’t keep much longer (in contrast to the best 1980s). | 93

Richard Mayson | Quite deep at the center withathin tawny rim; spirity and a touch burned on the nose, with underlying ripe fruit; ripe and firm initially, not showing much elegance but some big, ripe tannins mid-palate and a hefty, chewy finish, where rather baked jammy fruit reappears. | 84