How old is his port?

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:03 pm

I am new to the forum. I found a few bottles of port while cleaning up my fathers stuff. He does not drink anymore so he told me to take them home and drink them.

Here is a picture of the label of this port. Here are my questions.
1. How old is this port?
2. Should I drink it now?
3. If I drink it all can I get more and how much will it cost?

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:06 pm

not sure why it is only showing half the picture.

Bradley Bogdan · Post by **Bradley Bogdan** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:28 pm

While the winery is still very much in business and still produces a domestic port-like product from mainly Zinfandel, they no longer produce a "Tinta Port" product.

From what I can dig up, it's from the 1960s, you should probably drink it now, as most domestic port-style wines don't age all that gracefully.

If you want to try their modern and current version (which could be a totally different blend, or perhaps not) can be had from the winery to the tune of $35 for a 375ml bottle.

Let us know how it tastes if you decide to crack it open!

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Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:10 pm

Thanks, while I am sure I will have no problem drinking it it will probably have a problem writing about it, I don't know the proper terminology.
From the best I could find from talking to people Charles Krug did not release this port it was an in house product that was only given to friends. I don't know if that is true or not.

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:54 am

Given that it has what appears to be a serial number on the label, near the finger, would indicate this was probably released to the public. At least this particular bottling of it, unless they reused older labels. Typically, though not always, a producer isn't going to spend lots of money on numbered labels for something that is for in-house employees only.

You may have to resize the image a bit smaller for it all to fit here.

As for the producer they used to make very good California wines back prior to the 80's. Having been founded in the mid 1800's. I've had a number of wines from the 60's and 70's from them that were still very good, though fully mature as they should be now days. As already mentioned, it will be a 50/50 toss up if this is still good given that it's being placed around the 30-ish plus years old range. Only one way to find out

They do still make a Zinfandel Port but I can't find any recent mention of this particular one. Though it was quite common for many Cali producers to make a fortified wine or "port" back then.

Edit: I can now see the whole bottle. Made from the Tinta Madeira grape. Was listed at 20% ABV, which is "XXX" out and a new printing below at 18% ABV.

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:56 pm

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:58 pm

Yes, resizing worked. I guess I will just be forced to drink it. I am sure I can choke it down. I may open a bottle with some wine buddies and have them help me write a review.

Eric Ifune · Post by **Eric Ifune** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:37 pm

Charles Krug was one of the pioneer Napa wineries. Bought by the Mondavi family when they moved to California and the location of the infamous fistfight between brothers Robert and Peter when they broke up. Still owned by Peter Mondavi. They had some great wines but lost the famous and historic ToKalon vineyard to Robert Mondavi in the breakup lawsuit. I understand they are making some excellent wines these days, but haven't tasted any in years. I believe I still own a 1974 Reserve Cabernet from them.

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:28 am

Yes, the Mondavi reserve are great. I have a chance to do a free tasting of some of their reserves when I was out here a few years back, a friend of my wife was working at the winery at the time.

On another note a friend recommended calling them and giving them the serial number. I did his and talked to a nice woman that said if I emailed her the serial number she would see if the shipping department had any records of it.
Email has been sent. We will see what I get back.

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:18 pm

Ok, so another update. I was cleaning out more of my fathers stuff and found another case of the same port. Since the port was in the California Bay Area, I had already planned a trip to Napa to taste some California ports. I went with my friend Deano from Scribble Scribble wines. (Shameless plug for you Dean).
Deano suggested that we take a bottle to the Charles Krug tasting room. Dean called ahead and asked if they would be interested in tasting the port. Bob Silva the guest relations manager said they would love to taste it with us. We were a little late getting to the Krug tasting room so unfortunately we did not have the time to decant the wine as I would have liked.

Notes on the bottle, the bottle had a T stopper. When opened the stopper was intacted and did not show any signs of the bottle being mishandled.

With the help of Deano and the Krug tasting room staff here are my tasting notes.
The fruit was more of a raisin, fig, plum with a hint of maple, somewhat close to a candied fruit. Mid palet came through with a hint of oak that gave it a vanilla tone. The finish was long and layered and it continued opening up as we tasted through it.

Bob Silva of Krug Winery thought the port could still be aged more and would continue to get better with age.

I would like to thank Julia Thayer (Executive Assistant to Peter Mondavi, Sr. and Jeff Richardson) for helping me identify the age of the port. I would also like to thank Bob Silva and the Charles Krug tasting room staff for making this a very enjoyable trip to Napa valley. It was nice to share a part of the Charles Krug history at Charles Krug Winery.

Bradley Bogdan · Post by **Bradley Bogdan** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:44 pm

Malachi W wrote:Ok, so another update. I was cleaning out more of my fathers stuff and found another case of the same port. Since the port was in the California Bay Area, I had already planned a trip to Napa to taste some California ports. I went with my friend Deano from Scribble Scribble wines. (Shameless plug for you Dean).
Deano suggested that we take a bottle to the Charles Krug tasting room. Dean called ahead and asked if they would be interested in tasting the port. Bob Silva the guest relations manager said they would love to taste it with us. We were a little late getting to the Krug tasting room so unfortunately we did not have the time to decant the wine as I would have liked.

Notes on the bottle, the bottle had a T stopper. When opened the stopper was intacted and did not show any signs of the bottle being mishandled.

With the help of Deano and the Krug tasting room staff here are my tasting notes.
The fruit was more of a raisin, fig, plum with a hint of maple, somewhat close to a candied fruit. Mid palet came through with a hint of oak that gave it a vanilla tone. The finish was long and layered and it continued opening up as we tasted through it.

Bob Silva of Krug Winery thought the port could still be aged more and would continue to get better with age.

I would like to thank Julia Thayer (Executive Assistant to Peter Mondavi, Sr. and Jeff Richardson) for helping me identify the age of the port. I would also like to thank Bob Silva and the Charles Krug tasting room staff for making this a very enjoyable trip to Napa valley. It was nice to share a part of the Charles Krug history at Charles Krug Winery.

What was the age they were able to ascribe to it?

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Bradley Bogdan · Post by **Bradley Bogdan** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:44 pm

Also, thanks for the note and I'm glad it was a positive bottle!

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Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:01 pm

Sorry, I thought I posted the age. The port was bottled March of 1976. This was based on the serial number printed on the bottle I had at home.

Moses Botbol · Post by **Moses Botbol** » Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:48 am

Charles Krug made nice dry wines and I think that brand faded off in the 80's? My guess is the bottle is from late 70's compared to other CK products I have tasted in the past.

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:23 am

Thanks for the update. Glad it showed well.

Moses Botbol wrote:Charles Krug made nice dry wines and I think that brand faded off in the 80's? My guess is the bottle is from late 70's compared to other CK products I have tasted in the past.

Yes, they made very good dry wines until the late 70's to very early 80's.

Mahmoud Ali · Post by **Mahmoud Ali** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:56 am

Well, this was an interesting read. Imagine, a Charles Krug "Port" from 1976 still alive, drinking well and with more time ahead of it. Who would have thought? Gives me hope for my bottle of 1988 Beringer Cabernet Port - surely it too will need more time.

Mahmoud.

Malachi W · Post by **Malachi W** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 10:51 am

Mahmoud Ali wrote:Well, this was an interesting read. Imagine, a Charles Krug "Port" from 1976 still alive, drinking well and with more time ahead of it. Who would have thought? Gives me hope for my bottle of 1988 Beringer Cabernet Port - surely it too will need more time.

Mahmoud.

I am a novice when it comes to drinking and reviewing ports and wines overall. I hope my review made sense. I did pick up a couple of Krug's Zin port when I was there last week. I traded for one of the '76 bottles. I doubt I made a good trade but the tasting room manager wanted a bottle for their collection. It seems all the California "Ports" are going Zinfindel. Does anyone have any idea how they will age?
I also thought about trying Ficklin's port. They say they are still using Portugese variatials.

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