Simon Field | Unusual ferruginous color, a little cloudy and unsettled; maybe it has been hard to open and decant this one. The wine is equally difficult to read; a little flat on the palate, enfin, soot and even elastoplast, desiccated raisins and peat. As with several of the wines tasted from 1980, the structure is compromised, not, it seems, by vaulting ambition, but rather by a poor interface between the spirit used and the means employed to extract the ripeness from the fruit, the latter seemingly not difficult in such a benevolent climate, but, paradoxically, therefore, harder to nail. | 88

Andrew Jefford | Dark black-red in color, though now translucent. Good depth of color nonetheless, and no bricking at the rim; red-black throughout. Warm and earthy, with some soft-contoured fruits: not jammy, but has freshness and spice, vitality and sap, and the sweetness is elevated by both stoniness and plant perfumes. Excellent on the palate, too: vital, firm, and ample. It doesn’t have the primeval depth of [Warre’s 1980] or even the relative youth (and pronounced acidity) of [Dow’s 1980], but is into early maturity. Totally satisfying on every parameter, though: texture and breadth, complexity and vinosity of fruit, aromatic finesse and overall classicism. A much better Port than any of the ’70s, ’75s, and ’77s we have tried. Seek it out, and it is drinking absolutely beautifully at present. | 95

Richard Mayson | Good mid-deep color, with a pinkish tawny rim; demure and slightly dusty on the nose, with underlying ripe fruit, perhaps just a touch baked; soft, supple initially, some ripe plum jam fruit backed by a firm dusting of tannin which leads to a good, grippy finish, the fruit rather dominated by tannin. | 88