Agrellos 40 year-old Tawny.

[Mike J. W.]

Has anyone ever heard of this producer or had a bottle of their 40 year-old Tawny? The winemaker is Manuel Carlos Agrellos. I've Googled and haven't been able to find anything on the producer. I gambled and put a bid on 3 bottles and won the bid. I got them at a good price for a 40 year-old TWAIOA, but I'm wondering if I won dreck or will have a drinkable 40 year-old?

[Glenn E.]

Virtually guaranteed that it will be drinkable. I'd even go so far as to say good. It's tough to ruin a 40 year old.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the producer. Though it did make me think that it might have something to do with Antonio Agrellos?

[Andy Velebil]

You out bid me, but I wasn't willing to go that high because of how old they were. A major gamble and curiosity for sure. Hope they're still decent.

If it is the same person, Carlos did work at Noval back then. If I read the label correctly, I think this comes from the Tua valley area. No clue if he or his family owned something back there or if they bought finished tawny and just bottled it.

[Mike J. W.]

I wondered the same thing Glenn.

Sorry about that Andy. It ended up being a little under $80 a bottle for a 40 year-old so I thought I'd take a gamble on it at that price. But you're right, it is a gamble seeing that they were bottled in 1988. I'll let you know.

[Will W.]

Thank you for your query; it got me thinking about a bottle in my own cellar. From a quick look online:

This is a small family operation (Sociedade Agricola Manuel Carlos Agrellos, Herdeiros); it was initially centred on Sao Mamede de Ribatua in, as the name suggests, the Tua River valley. Thirty years ago, the firm purchased additional property around Covas do Douro. The Covas do Douro property is used to produce still wines, under the Durham Agrellos rubric, this being the surname of the three brothers who own the operation. I have never seen any port bottled under the Agrellos name with a selo - other than the tawny referenced in your post. As far as I can tell, the family was producing port to sell to Sandeman quite some years ago, and the firm occasionally bottled old colheita stock to sell privately. Or at least they bottled some 1870, as I have one such exemplar in my cellar.

One of the current proprietors practices law in Porto (Miguel Durham Agrellos - https://da.pt/partners/miguel-durham-ag ... 2/?lang=en). I suspect that if you wrote to him, he would be happy to give you more information about your purchase. Should you do so, please let us know what you learn.

[Mike J. W.]

Will that's great detective work, thank you! I couldn't find much if anything although I did come across the attorney's name, but I didn't see a connection online to the the Port producer. I will definitely reach out to him and let you know what I find out.

[Andy Velebil]

Excellent detective work, indeed!

[Will W.]

I couldn't find much if anything although I did come across the attorney's name, but I didn't see a connection online to the the Port producer. I will definitely reach out to him and let you know what I find out.

Mike - When you do reach out would you please ask the chap if (or otherwise confirm) the family bottled some 1870 as garrafeiras particulares, I suspect when the lawyer was young? I am fairly certain that the bottle in my cellar is from the same family, though it would be nice to know for certain.

[Mike J. W.]

No problem. I'll raise that with him as well, Will.

[Mike J. W.]

I emailed that gentleman a few weeks back, but haven't heard anything as yet. It might have gone to his Spam folder. I'll try one more time next week.

[Mike J. W.]

I did hear back from Miguel Durham Agrellos. Below is his reply. Although he didn't specifically address my Port or the 1870 garrafeiras particulares, he did have some interesting information including a link to an article on FTLOP about his uncle. Here's his reply:

Sorry for my late reply. For some reason I missed this email.

First of all, thank you for your message and for your interest. Indeed, Manuel Carlos Agrellos was my grandfather, and my family produces wine in the Douro region (for at least five generations). The family produced originally from São Mamede de Riba Tua (near Tua river) and for more than a decade the family had a joint venture with Sandeman. Although we currently sell in Portugal and to some EU countries, we did export Port wine to the US during the eighties and still have an interesting stock of Port from the nineteenth century.

For your information, we have currently two wine makers in the family. My uncle, António Agrellos (https://www.fortheloveofport.com/antoni ... treasures/) and my brother Charles. We have a partnership with AXA (Quinta do Noval) regarding some of our vineyards.

Should you come to Portugal (perhaps after the pandemic ends…) do visit our Quinta da Marka (MARKA consists of the first two syllables of the proper names of my mother, Marjorie Kathleen Durham Agrellos), a wine tourism in the Douro from where you may visit our vineyards and taste some of our wines. You may find more information on booking (just type Quinta da Marka).

Best regards,
Miguel Durham Agrellos

[Andy Velebil]

I did hear back from Miguel Durham Agrellos. Below is his reply. Although he didn't specifically address my Port or the 1870 garrafeiras particulares, he did have some interesting information including a link to an article on FTLOP about his uncle. Here's his reply:

Sorry for my late reply. For some reason I missed this email.

First of all, thank you for your message and for your interest. Indeed, Manuel Carlos Agrellos was my grandfather, and my family produces wine in the Douro region (for at least five generations). The family produced originally from São Mamede de Riba Tua (near Tua river) and for more than a decade the family had a joint venture with Sandeman. Although we currently sell in Portugal and to some EU countries, we did export Port wine to the US during the eighties and still have an interesting stock of Port from the nineteenth century.

For your information, we have currently two wine makers in the family. My uncle, António Agrellos (https://www.fortheloveofport.com/antoni ... treasures/) and my brother Charles. We have a partnership with AXA (Quinta do Noval) regarding some of our vineyards.

Should you come to Portugal (perhaps after the pandemic ends…) do visit our Quinta da Marka (MARKA consists of the first two syllables of the proper names of my mother, Marjorie Kathleen Durham Agrellos), a wine tourism in the Douro from where you may visit our vineyards and taste some of our wines. You may find more information on booking (just type Quinta da Marka).

Best regards,
Miguel Durham Agrellos

Interesting. Thanks for the update. Marka is next to Crasto. I remember when they turned it from a farmhouse into a place to stay. I didn't realize it was related to the Agrellos family. From the pics of it, it looks like a really nice place to stay.