Frasqueiras Reservas Pereira D’Oliveiras Tinta Negra Sweet (bottled 2016, 88 yo) 1929

Wizened lantana thread through cracked old clay pipes; arcane preserved green herbs conjure ancient apothecarial times. There’s a wrench of medicinal bitter and the smoked steel of an old billy. Under all, crepuscular vegetal tendrils arc a justmoonlit succulence. A shimmering, vertical ovoid mouthfeel has focus and frame shift and blur between acid and tannin. It’s heavily spiced at the mouth’s lower rim, through which a salted leather, sweetly dark, treacled-tea flavour-feel persists. Oh my tangy, earthen, licorice-lord!