1966 Vintage Port Horizontal at Andy's (pics added)

[Andy Velebil]

Last night, July 19th, Sean C. and his business partner Joe arrived in L.A. for business. Having a night free, what better way to spend it than doing a horizontal of 1966 Vintage Ports. As this was a last minute trip there wasn’t a lot of time to plan, not that that has ever slowed us down. A small group of FTLOP’rs and friends and signifcant others gathered at my house and dove into the Ports first, then dinner, and more Ports. Here was the cast of characters…

Andy “shut up and eat” V.
Alex “Grill man” R.
Eysel “Smokes” R.
Joe “Goldfinger”
Eothen “The Chugger” (his fiance and her friend)
Sean “Mr. Pink” C.


With less than one week to go, what was to be the flagship of the tasting was still not in our possession. A few calls later and thanks to “Goldfinger” Joe, we had the 1966 Fonseca in our grasps. As fate would have it, it was the only corked bottle. We were all not happy about that. But have no fear, I pulled out a bottle to serve to everyone blind.

It was a long night of shear fun with “Mr. Pink” keeping us all entertained. Many thanks go to Alex “Grill man” R. for doing a great job grilling and smoking lots of meats. A friend of mine is a big hunter and he gave me some Elk and Antelope to grill up. The later was quite gamey but the Elk was absolutely wonderful. The “Grill man” did a great job smoking some meat with Jack Daniel woodchips and the flavor was wonderful. I couldn’t have pulled it off without his help.

I also must thanks “Smokes” for running back home to make sure we all could enjoy some really fine cigars at the end of the evening. A 1996 Justino’s Colheita Madeira was opened and enjoyed along with whatever Ports people were drinking by then. A wonderful way to end the evening. I’m sure you want to know how the Ports were, so here you are in the order they were tasted. (I'll cross post them to the TN section in a bit).

1966 Fonseca Vintage Port:
Corked, a real shame as I could still get a sense that this was a powerful VP. N/R

1966 Graham's Vintage Port:
The had the most expressive nose of the bunch, just screaming with spices. Elegant cherries and spices on the palate with still noticable tannins. This is still a youngster that is not yet at peak. A stunning port and my WOTN. 95 points.

1966 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port:
Interesting as this was the darkest color of all the Ports. But the nose was rather candied with strawberries and cola. The palate was rather hot, not horribly hot, but just enough to be noticable and detract from the overall drinking experience. The finish was simple and only medium in length. This bottle, if indicative of all, was already past its prime and not likely to get better. 87 points

1966 Sandeman Vintage Port:
This was just starting to show some bricking on the rim, but otherwise was still holding its color nicely. The young nose showed cinnamon and plums. A touch of heat on the palate was just noticable but didn't interfere with the overall pleasure. It was interesting because each glass of this was a little different than the last. One would show young fruit then the next it would be more mature fruit. It was hard to get a grasp on this one, but by the end it sorted itself out. While a very enjoyable bottle, it wasn't quite up to par with some of the others. 90 points

1966 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port:
One of the darkest of the bunch this still showed lots of youth to it. From the red berries and fruit, the anise and floral notes, and a bit of chocolate this was a solid VP with life left ahead of it. But the finish is where this really excelled, very long and mouth filling. While a solid VP, it just could quite compete with the Graham's and Warre's. 93 points.

1966 Warre's Vintage Port:
This was quite dark and showing no signs of age. The nose was still dark berries and some blueberries intermixed. Still some good tannins on this, coupled with dark berries and some mint on the long finish. This VP stunned everyone at just how good it was. It was a tough call between this and the Graham's for my WOTN, as they were both stunning VPs that were still so youthfull. Although it got the same score as the Graham's I'd have to give an ever so slight nod to the Graham's as the top bill of the evening. 95 points.

Smith Woodhouse Crusted Port, Bottled in 1980:
I served this blind as a last minute replacement for a corked Fonseca. This was still quite dark and consistant with other top VP's from the early to mid 80's. Lots of white cherries, strawberries, and some good tannins on a medium/long finish rounded out an excellant example of a "Poor mans Port." This Crusted only got better as the night wore on and was just started to peak when it was gone. Sean was the closest with his guess of 1980 or 1983, but a VP not a Crusted. Alex and Joe thought it was an LBV, so they two were also very close. It great to get to try these old Crusted Ports as they are almost never seen here in the states. 89 points.

I can't thank everyone enough for pulling some fun old VP's from their cellar on short notice and making the evening a wonderful time.

[Eric Ifune]

Nice! Sorry I couldn't make it.

[Andy Velebil]

Nice! Sorry I couldn't make it.

Hey, you just keep your butt down and stay safe over there. Next time your heading out this way let me know...any excuse to open some bottles is a good excuse

[David Spriggs]

Wow! Nice tasting and Dinner! I wish I was there
The 1996 Graham's is one of my all-time favorites. I'm glad it showed well.
-Dave-

[Andy Velebil]

Dave,
I've had the '66 Grahams twice in the past two months and I must say they both were stellar bottles. It definitely is one of the top of the vintage and still has lots of life ahead of it. I only wish the Fonseca wasn't corked as I would have loved to put these two head to head for comparison.

[Moses Botbol]

The 1996 Graham's is one of my all-time favorites.

Indeed it is for me too. 1966 is a great vintage all around.

[SEAN C.]

I would like to add Andy V. has a nice lemon tree in his backyard which yields some top quality lemons that when added to gallons of water aid remarkably well in curing a hangover.

[Andy Velebil]

Thats where all my lemons went to.. I should have searched you on the way out

[Roy Hersh]

Nicely done Andy ... good photos too. Thanks for the fine TNs and feel of the evening.

How much Port was left over?

[Alex R]

Not much Roy, we pretty much drank everything! It was a damm shame that the fonseca was corked

[Andy Velebil]

Yeah we pretty much killed everything. I think there was a little of the Noval left that I sent back with Sean and Joe. But we made quick work of the Ports and about a 1/2 bottle of Madeira with the stoggies.