1995 Caves São João Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva Quinta do Poço do Lobo - Portugal, Beiras, Vinho Regional Beiras (5/19/2022)
– decanted 30 min. before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over 3 hours –
NOSE: reserved at first, but things really got going after about one hour; some tertiary elements, but still plenty of aged dark fruits; notes of cracker, leather (not brett), mint, and scorched character.
BODY: violet-mahogany color of great depth some coarse-grained sediment present; medium-full bodied.
TASTE: pleasantly tertiary — more tertiary than primary; still tannic; medium acidity; nutty (tawny); 13.5% alc. not noticeable; crushed stones mineral note; certainly seems ripe, if not a bit scorched; Drink Now. I wouldn’t call this “old” at this point, but neither is it young, closed, or tight. This is quite pleasant, and in its prime window, for my preferences. The tasting experience is like a piece of fine-grained hardwood, burnished to a high shine — elegant, with depth, and some complexity. Despite this praise, I did find it a touch too scorched, and a bit too rough-n-tumble to get into the most upper ranges of scores; nonetheless, this is excellent, and – given the bottle age – recently purchasing it for $60 feels like robbery.
50, 5, 13, 17, 8 = (93 pts.)