Revisiting vintage Port 1994: From the archive

It's the time of year when many of us wine lovers begin to consider our Port selection ahead of the festive celebrations. Below, you can find Richard Mayson's full report on a re-tasting of the 'landmark' 1994 Port vintage, including the top wines.

Originally published in Decanter magazine's January 2015 issue and now available to Premium subscribers for the first time.

In 1998, 11 tasters representing the great and the good of the UK and Oporto wine trade assembled at Decanter to taste the recently declared 1994 Port vintage.

It was the first unanimous declaration since 1985 and, with the Americans buying up vintage Port, there was lots of excitement in the air.

Scroll down to see Richard’s tasting notes & scores

As one of the tasters, I remember that we had a lively debate about the wines. The 1994 vintage Ports were characterised at the start by their forward fruit, and many thought this marked a fundamental change in the winemaking.

The Americans had taken to drinking vintage Port in its first bloom of youth: had the 1994s been made with this in mind?

Peter Cobb, then managing director of Cockburn’s, summed up the views of the majority when he said: ‘A generation ago, if we were tasting a wine with two years in bottle, we would be remarking on the enormous tannins and staying power, together with the acidity and fruit… only the last of these qualities was immediately obvious here.’ A few tasters went so far as to say that the wines were no better than a good ruby or LBV!

Hindsight

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Looking back, it’s clear that 1994 was a landmark vintage.

Not only was it the first general declaration for nine years, it was also a chance to show that the shippers had put their houses in order after some very variable wines in the early ’80s (especially 1985).

It helped that 1994 was a good vintage. After a washout in 1993, growers were understandably nervous; some panicked and harvested too early when a little light rain fell in mid-September.

But on the whole the harvest took place in perfect conditions. Many producers were still without temperature control at the time and long, slow fermentations gave rise to prolonged skin contact and good extraction from small, well-ripened grapes.

The shippers were confident and when the wines were declared in 1996, opening prices were up by as much as 40% on 1985.

So what of all that forward fruit? My opinion was that it was just puppy fat, covering up the ripe, underlying tannins, and that the wines had the longevity of traditional vintage Port.

Nothing had been changed deliberately, said Bill Warre of Warre’s and Adrian Bridge, managing director of Taylor and Fonseca, defending the Port trade. For saying this, a few of us were branded ‘traditionalists’.

But the doubters remained adamant. One UK buyer asserted that ‘if I bought these wines for a christening present, I’d be thinking in 18 years’ time “what on earth is vintage Port all about?”’

The tasting

Those 18 years are up and the babies who were given 1994 vintage Port for a christening present might now be thinking about drinking them.

With these debates in mind, I have retasted (blind) 23 of the 33 wines we assessed back in 1998, and present the 18 highest scorers here.

Most of the wines are ready to drink. Fonseca, Taylor’s, Graham’s, Sandeman and perhaps surprisingly Calém are still a bit sullen and would benefit from another few years in bottle to allow them to open up.

There was one badly volatile wine (shades of 1985) and one or two that were already falling apart. But there is no shortage of depth or structure in the best 1994s, which safely have another two or three decades of life ahead of them.

The wonderful ripe fruit that we found at the outset is still there, and so are the tannins that some thought were missing all those years ago. The best wines are fine and focused – not massive, but broad, dense and ripe.

In the original tasting referenced above, three wines received Decanter wards, equivalent to 95 points or above: Fonseca, Quarles Harris and Martinez Quinta da Eira Velha. With the latter shipper no longer in business, I was unable to retaste this wine.

In the re-run, six of the 23 wines got 95 points and seven more were 90 or above. So, I declare that the ‘traditionalists’ have won the argument. 1994 is shaping up into an excellent vintage and will give drinking pleasure for many years to come.

Richard’s pick of vintage Port 1994:

You may also like:

Great Ports for Christmas (December 2017)

Port 2016: Vintage report and top releases (October 2018)

Know your Port (August 2014)

Port vintage guide: Back to 1960 (October 2018)