1985 Fonseca
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Tasting notes
Deep garnet colour. Leathery ripeness dominates the nose, which is smoky and lightly gamey. The fruit still has excellent presence on both nose and palate, but the spice-box notes now overtake the fresher fruit tones. The sweetness is perfectly measured, rounding the edges and softening the tannins. More leather, clove and nutmeg linger on a very long finish. Ready, but with a long life ahead. (TP)
Critic scores
Average Score
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Deep black, with a narrow, garnet rim. Utterly different colour profile to the 1980 and 1983 wines. Brawn, black pepper and a crushed-rock note. A brooding and savoury nose, which needs extensive coaxing to give any liqueur fruit depth at all. The palate is more expressive, with blackberry liqueur and fig depth, suggesting that the wine is just going through a closed, grumpy phase. Good freshness and fine, compact tannins, built for the long haul. (TJ)
Candied black fruits with a nice dose of floral character and plenty of freshness still going on the palate. Some earthy, mushroom characters reveal the maturity. Not the most opulent of the 1985s, and while it’s still holding up now, I don’t think there’s a long future ahead. (RH)
Deep crimson with ruby overtones. Youthful and very rich and unformed. Lively, with floral notes and still some tannins on the end. Slightly hot. Big and briary, slightly cheesy. Dry and a bit simple on the end. (JR)