Warre's Nimrod

[Moses Botbol]

Been a little talk on about this tawny from Warre, but what's the deal with it? It costs more than Warre's 10 year and is close to their Otimo, yet there is no age indication on the bottle.

How old is it? I'd like to know some more about it before I would consider buying a bottle. I do love their Otimo, and never tried their 10 year...

[Eric Menchen]

A few places list the Nimrod as "Warre's Nimrod Very Finest Rare Tawny Porto 15 year old." Is there but one product, which happens to be aged ~15 years, or is this a different product? Where is our Nimrod expert?

[Moses Botbol]

A few places list the Nimrod as "Warre's Nimrod Very Finest Rare Tawny Porto 15 year old."

That would make it less expensive and longer aged than Otimo 10, yet the bottle says nothing about its age on the back. Not questioning you, as 15 years makes sense. Why not just put 15 on the bottle like Madeira does?

I guess the next question is why Otimo is more expensive for a younger product when Nimrod is said the be made with the "Finest Reserves". What is Otimo made with then?

[Eric Menchen]

1. I don't think they are allowed to sell anything labeled as a 15 year old tawny. See Article 5 of
http://www.ivdp.pt/pt/docs/legislacao/213.pdf
2. Warre did stop making it, so perhaps they felt it clashed in their product portfolio.

[Peter W. Meek]

It is a nutty (rather than fruity) tawny. I heard somewhere that it averaged about 12 years. I heard somewhere else it was 30; that seems high, given the usual price of $30+/- a bottle. It is labeled "Finest Tawny Reserve" which I understand is an accepted descriptive. I like it a whole lot, myself. I have drunk well over 100 bottles of Nimrod and found only two VERY slightly corked bottles, so it is pretty safe from that standpoint. (I actually had to side-by-side with a good bottle to say for sure that it was corked at all.)

However, if you want to try it, you should do so soon. They quit making it a while ago, and existing stocks are getting older. If you believe that tawnys should be drunk fairly soon after bottling, I wouldn't wait another year. Unlike many tawnys, there is no 'bottled in' indicator on the label, so you can't tell when it was taken from the barrel - or at least, I can't. Maybe there is a database of when certain seal numbers were issued that would help.

Conversely, there is every reason to avoid it -- what would happen if it turned out to be something you REALLY liked. There won't be any more; there is no substitute (that I've found); stocks are dwindling.

On the third hand, you know someone who has (currently) 3 cases and a bottle of Nimrod. If you happen to drift through SE Michigan, you know I would always be glad to share a bottle with you. Don't delay, I expect these to be gone around the end of this year.

[Roy Hersh]

Moses,

Sorry for the correction, but it is OTIMA, not OtimO.

15 year old is not a Port category recognized and approved by the IVDP, so it is therefore, "meaningless" and a label would not be approved anyway. I know someone who tried cashing in on all of the baby boomers turning 50, a few years ago and he wanted to have his cake and eat it. Wound up calling it: Rocha "Glorious 50th Anniversary" Port. But lots bought it not for anniversaries but birthdays. Smart move but when he tried to get the IVDP to let him make a legit 50 year old Tawny, he failed to persuade. He did get the label approved for the aforementioned name, so ultimately, he won.

[Dan Carbon]

As usual, you have sorted this out on your own, so there is not much new I can add. Yes, Warre's Nimrod is a Reserve Tawny Port. To qualify as a Reserve Tawny the wine must be aged for a minimum of 7 years in barrel, per the IVDP. The final blend, however, can be made up of wines that have aged much longer depending on the objective of the winemaker, in this case Peter Symington. I think that most people who try Nimrod feel that it overdelivers in terms of quality and complexity. With the introduction of Otima 10 in 1999 and then Otima 20 a few years later, Nimrod´s place in the Warre range made less sense and the decision was taken to stop producing it.

Out of curiosity, do you think the name Nimrod is a plus or minus?

[Moses Botbol]

Out of curiosity, do you think the name Nimrod is a plus or minus?

For sure a minus as I have been eyeing this bottle for a decade and never bothered as it seemed expensive for a non-age indication port with a hooky name. Wish I had known that it was actually well aged! It's on my short list for next tawny purchase.

[Andy Velebil]

Out of curiosity, do you think the name Nimrod is a plus or minus?

Thanks for the info Dan.

As for the name Nimrod. I guess it would depend on where you live, but as you know here the US it's not exactly a named used positively. I personally don't feel it's a good name for a product, at least in certain parts of the world.

[Eric Menchen]

Out of curiosity, do you think the name Nimrod is a plus or minus?

I personally like the name, as it makes me think of Antarctic explorers drinking a Port. (The boat for Shackleton's expedition of 1907-1909 was the Nimrod, and I believe this is one of the many expeditions that I have confirmed they had Port, but I would have to check my notes to be sure.) I usually don't think of the Biblical Nimrod.

But that's just me, and I think most Americans think of a "nimrod" as an idiot. So overall, I'm going to have to say a minus.

[Peter W. Meek]

Out of curiosity, do you think the name Nimrod is a plus or minus?

Obviously, it is a minus. It's amazing how much havoc a couple of guys (Charles M. Jones and Michael Maltese) can wreak on a word. The only source I have ever found for the negative connotations of Nimrod comes from a few Bugs Bunny cartoons where Bugs says of Elmer, "What a Nimrod," in a sarcastic tone of voice, indicating that as a hunter, a Nimrod is exactly what he is NOT. Maybe it sounds too much like "numbskull".

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<Applying Jerry Pournelle's Four-Foot Rule (never sit down to write or type unless you are within 4' of a good dictionary; if you are farther away, you won't get up and check your words)> The OED shows Nimrod used as indicating a hunter, especially a good hunter, as first appearing in print in 1712 when Addison used it in The Spectator (#371 pg 9). The OED makes no mention of its negative usage.
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