Fonseca's house style is one of richness and warmth, and lush fruit intensity. The 1983 is magnificently scented, full-bodied, creamy and showing great length and character.

"Fonseca is one of the great port lodges, producing the most exotic and most complex port. If Fonseca lacks the sheer weight and power of a Taylor, Dow or Warre, or the opulent sweetness and intensity of a Graham, it excels in its magnificently complex, intense bouquet of plummy, cedary, spicy fruit and long, broad, expansive flavors. With its lush, seductive character, one might call it the Pomerol of Vintage ports." Robert Parker, Buying Guide (1989)