1994 Warre

[SCP]

1994 Warre, half-bottle cask sample (with T-stopper). Opened to breathe 2 hours before drinking.
Rich blackcurrant to start, followed by blackberry jam and a long finish with some tannic grip under the sides of the tongue. Outstanding.
I find I prefer the profile of younger Warre over older (40+ years).

[winesecretary]

That sounds very intriguing. I am a huge fan of the 'conventional' 1994 Warre.

[SCP]

I've previously tasted the "conventional" W94 at BBR port walks in 2016 and 2019. This was comparable to those two, but noticeably less tannic which I think would be the half-bottle rather than necessarily a cask vs regular bottling.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Any idea when the cask sample was drawn?

[SCP]

Yes, March 1996, photo in case of interest

B0101276-353C-4DC0-B2C6-6EC7222AA63D.jpeg (90.89 KiB) Viewed 1822 times

[Alex Bridgeman]

Oh my goodness! You meant a cask sample of the Vintage Port! I assumed you were talking about a cask sample of the (most delicious) 1994 Colheita.

Thank you for the picture and making clear what you meant.

[PhilW]

Very interesting. I have a cask sample of the Niepoort 1994, and did wonder whether the sample will have matured similarly to the full wine (bottle-size aside) or whether there might be any additional ingredients (stabilisers or similar) which would be missing from the sample which means it might be somewhat poor; now I have more hope!

[Andy Velebil]

Generally speaking, cask samples are hand drawn bottles and will age much faster. At least that has been my general experience with older ones I’ve had.

That said, of the ones I’ve had some held up much better than others. No clue why.

[SCP]

Unfortunately, from the same source, I also had a cask sample half-bottle of Graham 1994. This didn’t show as well as I’d have expected and also had a fairly brief window during which it was enjoyable (very hot after opening, good after a few hours, then faded fast).