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Bottling date unstated but assumed circa 1997-1999.

P'n'decanted'n'poured. A small amount of sediment of the smallest variety- a filtered LBV.

A remarkably dark wine, 90% opaque with red rim.

Nose dumb but with a little rubber and some slightly surprising indications of berry power.

In the mouth rich and sweet black fruits and some liquorice and prunes but then some quite dry tannins dragging it back to the family resemblance.

While not hugely sophisticated this is really remarkably good for a wine that was designed to be drunk 20 years ago. Popped to be consumed with some nuts and dates and chocolate and wholly up to that.

A sample kindly provided by GEAG - received 11/9/21, then refrigerated and drunk the next evening.

Very dark (90%?), with a hint of brown at the rim. Surprisingly dark for a 29 year-old wine.

An initial alcohol hit on the nose, then some dark fruit & liquorice & leather.

In the mouth, very smooth, well integrated tannins, liquorice again, maybe starting to dry out. Quite long.

Overall, really rather pleasant and much better than anticipated.

I first had this LBV a few months ago. There's a store in Newark, NJ in a heavily Portuguese section that has a wide selection of older LBV's (20 to 30 years old) at a decent price. I've picked up some Taylor's LBV ('92 & '94), some Dow '92 LBV's and a couple of Andresen '92 LBV's. All have been quite good, especially the Taylor's, but the Dow isn't far behind. They have some other aged LBV's that I'll be sampling soon.