Holy Grail(s)

[Will W.]

In the discussion thread concerning the 1912 Fonseca, I noticed a reference by Roy to the 'Holy Grail' of port. Whilst I have no doubt missed something, being a relatively new subscriber to FTLOP, a quick search of the Forum has not thrown up a comprehensive list - although I appreciate the subjective nature of such matters. At any rate, as I am working diligently to build a decent cellar (or, rather, to populate an existing cellar), I would welcome any and all suggestions of what ports might be worthy of Holy Grail status, be they VPs or colheitas. Presumably, the '45 and '48 Taylor VPs would find a place on anybody's list. What else?

[Frederick Blais]

Probably 1931, 1963 Noval Nacional and more recently 2011 Douro Boys Port(only available in magnum).

Maybe it is not time yet, but I would add 1970 Niepoort from small bottle and 1985,1966 Fonseca.

From Colheitas, 1900 Andresen, 1912 and 1937 Niepoort are top of the list for me. Then you have all the super expensive old Port, Scion, VV, Tribute, 5G...

[Jasper A.]

I think the 2011 Noval Nacional is the one for the future.

[Glenn E.]

The "classic" Holy Grail of Port is the 1931 Noval Nacional, though many say that the regular 1931 Noval is as good or better. So the "real" Holy Grail would be to taste them side-by-side to see for yourself which is better.

As far as bottles that might actually be attainable... (VP unless otherwise indicated)

1863 Krohn Coheita
1896 Dow
1896 Krohn Colheita and Colheita Branco
1927 Fonseca
1934 (?) Niepoort... or was it the 1935? Any help?
1937 [pick your producer] Colheita... they're all pretty fabulous, but Warre really stands out
1945 Graham, Fonseca, and Taylor
1948 Graham, Fonseca, and Taylor
1963 Noval Nacional
1994 Noval Nacional
2011 Noval Nacional (just a guess... but it seems like a pretty safe bet)

And because I'm Mr. Tawny...

NV Quinta do Mourao "100" Very Old Tawny Port

Seriously. That should be on any Port lover's bucket list.

There are several older VPs that I've only heard about rarely, so I can't really piece together which are amazing bucket list Ports are which are simply very old and very rare. There's a 1904 that gets mentioned off and on (Cockburn?) as well as a couple of 1912s other than the Fonseca (Cockburn again, maybe Taylor?) and then a few from the 1920s. Hopefully someone else will be able to point out the ones that truely deserve bucket list status.

[Frederick Blais]

Glenn, I know the 1934 Niepoort Colheita is fantastic, never seen the 1935. The NIepoort 1927 is quite rare too. We could mention their Garrafeira too !

[Eric Menchen]

1952 Dalva Golden White was on my list for a long time, but I finally managed to pick up a bottle. Now I really want to taste a Niepoort Garrafeira.

[Allan Engelsted Laurents]

Did I mention, that later this summer, I am going to taste 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 different Garrafeiras

That is going to be epic...
And staying with Niepoort (1934 or 1935), in my opinion the 1935 Colheita is the better one.
And the Colheita celebrating the Birth of Rolf from 1927 is also a rarity.
I am going to drink mine in the year of 2027.

[Moses Botbol]

No one has mentioned '85 Fonseca, '70 Niepoort (VP or Colheita), or '52 Delaforce Colheita; so I'll add those...

[Al B.]

It's a challenging topic to come up with a holy grail list. If the budget was unlimited, these are some of the bottles I'd like to include in my ideal cellar:

1815 Ferreira
1855 Taylor Scion
1863 Ferreira
1863 Taylor colheita
1882 Graham Ne Oublie
1896 Dow
1908 Cockburn
1912 Cockburn
1927 Taylor
1931 Noval
1931 Noval Nacional
1945 Croft
1945 Graham
1945 Taylor
1948 Fonseca
1948 Graham
1963 Fonseca
1963 Noval Nacional
1966 Fonseca
1970 Fonseca
1992 Taylor
1994 Noval Nacional
2011 Noval Nacional

but my personal holy grail is still a good bottle of 1963 Smith Woodhouse. I've tasted many vintage ports from my birth year but this one still eludes me.

[Eric Ifune]

Personally, for me, a holy grail wine is one almost impossible to obtain. Much like the seach for the real Holy Grail has never been successful. While many of the wines listed are fabulous, they're not really impossible to obtain, if one has enough money. I'd say the holy grail would be tasting the 31 regular Noval and the Nacional side by side. How many times has this occured in the past dozen years? Once, twice worldwide?

[Al B.]

Personally, for me, a holy grail wine is one almost impossible to obtain. Much like the seach for the real Holy Grail has never been successful. While many of the wines listed are fabulous, they're not really impossible to obtain, if one has enough money.

That's a fair point. I did approach the question differently from that. I thought of it as what would I really, really like to have in a fabulous port cellar. And you're right, many of the ports I've listed are reasonably easy to find with some patience and a lot of money. If I took the list and stripped out what is reasonably easy to get hold of then perhaps what I'm left with is:
1815 Ferreira - the oldest wine still in the Ferreira cellars, a bottle which I've only seen for sale 3 times and tasted only once in my lifetime
1908 Cockburn - I've not seen this offered for sale anywhere in the world since 2012
1912 Cockburn - I saw this offered for sale in 2007 and then again a single bottle in late 2015, but not in between those dates and none available at present
1931 Noval - available, but rare and needed for the "holy grail" tasting
1931 Noval Nacional - last seen at auction in 2006

I'd say the holy grail would be tasting the 31 regular Noval and the Nacional side by side. How many times has this occured in the past dozen years? Once, twice worldwide?

Tastings of the Noval and Nacional '31 side-by-side don't happen often. Worldwide I know of 4, maybe 5, occasions in the last dozen years. Roy's attended two of them, once in May 2013 and once in February 2004 (he has tasting notes on the site). The other two occasions were in London (Linden Wilkie's Fine Wine Experience tasting of Noval and Nacional in March 2007) and Portugal in January 2013. I have a feeling I have also read about another event in Portugal (at Noval) in which bottles of Noval 1931 and Noval Nacional 1931 were opened and tasted together but can't track down any details of this one. I think this might have been around 2006 and was the first time Christian Seely had tasted Nacional 1931.

[Al B.]

I read an article in Decanter Wine Magazine that was talking about a new book 101 Wines to Try Before You Die. That got me thinking about this thread. and what single Port do I want to try before I die.

It's still the Smith Woodhouse 1963. The only main-stream Port from my birth year that I am yet to drink. There are other fabulous Ports which other people have tasted and I have not, but the SW63 still remains my "Holy Grail".