For The Love Of Port

You are welcome. The names given to lots of Madeira and the famous cellars they were stored in make it great fun to track the sales of the wine. I haven't done any thorough searching but my brief research led me to believe there was none left. But you never know!

I haven't posted to FTLOP in years but since I have recently be digging into historic Madeira sales I thought I would expand upon the "Japan" Madeira. Major A. M. Hancock, who was a friend of both President Filmore and John Pendleton Kennedy, Secretary of the Navy. According to Major Hanco...

My bottle was imported by EWR but I don't know when.

Wow, this sounds like an amazing wine. Drool.

Aaron

I'll have to try this again in the future. I think I got a slight peak of what might have been right after it was poured.

When I first tasted the three 1970s I preferred the Taylor's. There was power, spices, and an explosive nature to the fruit that made it stand out. With time the nose and flavors began to fade and never gained in complexity. This is my only experience with 1970 Taylor's so I've tried to only draw th...

My wife and I rather liked it. In my brief vintage port experiences this year I rather like Warre's. It doesn't have the power or primary nature of Taylor's but it seems to have a multitude of aromas and flavors.

Aaron

Andy,

It sounds like you had a lovely bottle like we did this past Saturday. Definitely full-bodied but in balance. I didn't notice any heat and was pleased with how lovely this port is.

Aaron

1977 Taylor's Vintage Port Tasted Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 12:40pm and tasted between 6:30pm - 8:30pm This bottle had a fill level within neck. Sadly, this bottle was off. The nose was nonexistant. In the mouth the fruit is intialy spiced, nuanced, and perfumed but then the ugliness hit. It...

1977 Graham's Vintage Port Decanted at 1:00pm and tasted between 6:30pm - 8:30pm This Oporto bottle had a fill level within neck. A medium nose of perfumed, gritty, blue fruit. Wow, this is huge in the mouth, sporting smooth, creamy blue fruit and sweet cinnamon in the finish. Powerful and well-bala...

1970 Warre's Vintage Port UK Bottled by Corney & Barrow Green glass embossed with black lead capsule Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 1:15pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm. This Corney & Barrow bottle had a fill level within neck. The darkest of the 1970s. A light nose, with a bit...

1970 Taylor's Vintage Port UK Bottled by Grants of St James's Green glass embossed with plastic capsule Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 12:55pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm. This Grants of St. James's bottle had a fill level within neck. This is the lightest of the 1970s. There is a po...

1970 Graham's Vintage Port Oporto Bottled Dark brown glass embossed with "Grahams 1970" with black lead capsule Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 1:05pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm. This Oporto bottle had a fill level within neck. This sported a young, primary nose, more prune...

1966 Warre's Vintage Port Oporto Bottled Dark green glass embossed with "Warre 1966" with black lead capsule Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 2:25pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm. This Oporto bottle had a fill level within neck. This had a youthful nose compared to the other 19...

1966 Taylor's Vintage Port Oporto Bottled Dark green glass with olive green wax capsule Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 2:05pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm. This Oporto bottle had a fill level of bottom neck. The lightest of them all. A spiced nose followed by explosive, gritty fruit i...

1966 Graham's Vintage Port UK Bottled Green glass with plastic capsule Tasted on Saturday, 16 May 2009 Decanted at 2:15pm and tasted between 6:30-8:30pm. This UK bottle had a fill level within neck. The darkest of the 1966s. This had the most muted nose of the 1966s. There were soft fruit flavors, s...

Thanks guys. Jonathan, we should plan something for the fall.

Aaron

Glenn,

Thank you. I'll report back on Monday with all of my impressions and tasting notes.

Aaron

Andy, Moses,

Thank you for the advice. In previous searches I did notice some variation in views about the 1977 Graham's. I'm rather excited to try them all.

We will each have a glass for each port but the plan is to start with the 1966s. We'll visit the wines over a couple hours.

Aaron

We're tasting nine bottles, three vintages from each. I only have scattered vintage port experience so I am trying to maximize the experience. My friends always talk about the 1977 vintage so I thought we'd use that as a reference point to show how good 1966 and 1970 are.



Aaron