1985 Vintage Port
A great classic Vintage, with concentrated, rich and potent wines. General declaration.
Drinking Status
Some wines just beginning to drink. The best need longer and will age very well for decades.
Tasting Notes
Great quality wines with intense aromas of concentrated fruit and firm tannins. Rich and full-bodied wines.
Climatic Conditions
It was a model year for vine growing. A wet winter followed by a moderate spring then turned into an extremely warm June and a hot July and August.
Vinification
Picking took place under perfect weather conditions, and the fermentations went well also. From the very start shippers were predicting outstanding wines.
Winemaker's Comments
"Heavy rain since early November, looks like the first wet winter for four years."
12-13 November 1984
"It rained throughout this cold and wintery Easter weekend: vines now two weeks behind-hand. Snow reported from Serra da Estrela."
3-10 April 1985
"Very hot, up to 32-37 c each day, nights never below 20 C. Vines looking splendid. but a little rain now would be very welcome."
19-20 June 1985
"Never can the grapes have been gathered under better weather conditions than this 1985 vintage now in its last stages. 1985 Vintage will surely prove outstanding. What a pity that only 95,000 pipes were "authorised" this year. This year...we had issued a tabela of our offering prices with a bonus based on sugar content starting at 11 degrees and, for the first time in several years, seperating "E" prices from C and D. All in all, we have every reason to be extremely pleased with the 1985 vintage which has undoubtedly produced well above average quality wines throughout the region."
16 October 1985
Michael D Symington