Croft 1945 Vintage Port

[Al B.]

Another one of the parcel of wines I was able to pick up from a country house cellar clearance. This bottle was also a leaker.

Excess pressure inside the bottle released when the cork-screw broke the airtight seal on the bottle. A branded cork, it was very soft and broke in half on extracting.

The wine decanted easily off the heavy and well settled deposits. As it went into the decanter, it was a pale rose in colour. Sparklingly clear and giving off a lovely scent of cherry juice.

After 1 hour in the decanter, I approached for a taste. It had darkened in colour and was now a deep red centre with a pale rim. Not what I would expect from a 61 year old wine!

The nose was of cherry juice and warm earth, a touch spirity. Entry into the mouth was surprisingly thick and sweet, almost syrupy in texture and with lots of fruit. Midpalate was complex, with many layers of fruit, leather, cedarwood and wood ash.

A long, long aftertaste. The thick, glycerol sensation coats the mouth with fruit for perhaps 30 seconds and supports the development of a huge length of coffee, chocolate beans and dried dark cherries.

A very good wine indeed - so much so that my wife has run off with my glass! 96/100.

[Steven Kooij]

Croft '45...mmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!! 8)

Thanks for the TN!

[Richard Henderson]

Excellent notes, Alex. And shame on you! You should have poured your wife a glass from the start! :?

[Tom Archer]

OK my bottle is in a similar state - it's a drink or re-cork case, and given the level, I'm going to drink it on my birthday next week - exec. decision made!

(but not before I've downed a bottle or so of Ch. Branaire Ducru '99 and a couple of pounds of fillet steak - my local restauranteur informs me that my guests and I will be consuming the entire fillets of seven cows..)

- But I shall taste it carefully before the proceedings kick off!

Tom

[Al B.]

Richard - I did pour my wife a glass to start! One wasn't enough. :?

Alex

[Roy Hersh]

Alex,

Congrats on trying the '45 Croft. Each time (except the last) I have had it, it blew my mind. The only wine over 50 that I have had that is in the same league is the regular bottling of Noval '31. Otherwise, Port does not get any better with age. I hope you will have the opportunity to try a pristine bottle of this very young Port, now or in another 20 years ... it won't really matter.

[Richard Henderson]

I feel your pain , Alex. I have a wife who would do that!

[Derek T.]

I met Alex in London today to conclude a deal we had arranged on a great case of VP. Alex very kindly handed me a Sharwoods Curry Sauce jar containing a dark reddish brown liquid and announced that it was a sample from this bottle of Croft 1945 what a guy.

Although Alex told me it was a gift for my partner Jo and I it devastates me to tell you all that Jo wasn't feeling too well tonight and passed on the chance of a taste

I tasted this at 7 pm, exactly 24 hours after Alex decanted it. The note below was written before I read Alex's TN from the previous evening.

The colour was a dark reddish brown, like a young tawny, with an almost clear rim. The wine was bright and clear and when swilled around the glass it stuck to the sides like an old colheita. I got a treacle toffee and slightly spirited nose and not much fruit to speak of.

On entry it brought a tingling sensation to the front of the tongue which soon developed into burnt caramel and aniseed. The mouth feel was remarkably smooth, thick and viscous.

The finish was very long, starting out quite hot and fading off into a dry palate and a sweet cheek watering end.

To me this was like my [limited] experience of old aged tawny’s and colheita’s rather than VP. Perhaps this is due to the bottles history which, from what Alex describes does not appear to have been ideal. That said, it was a very, very nice wine.

This was a very special glass of port to me, not simply because it is 61 years old but because of Alex's remarkable generosity.

Thanks, Alex, I hope you and Elizabeth enjoy the rest of the bottle.

Derek

PS: In case anyone out there is feeling sorry for Jo, I have to tell you that as soon as I poured this nectar into a glass she proceeded to stink the house out with nail varnish remover - you don't feel sorry for her now, do you?

[Al B.]

Oh no! I've just realised I gave Derek the wrong jar and he tasted my home made chicken tikka masala mix, not the Croft

I did promise Derek that I would write up some tasting notes from the same time as he tasted the wine so that we could see how our views compared. Sad to say, that by the time I got to the end of the stressful day that Tuesday was, I did not take any notes.

However, I do remember that the wine was not very different from the note I took on Monday night. I was picking up lots of cherry fruit, reminded me of the Greens Dark Cherry Chocolate bar that I have in my car for the occasional nibble. Its interesting to see how two people can pick out such different things from the same wine.

Alex

[Derek T.]

Alex,

Did you tell me that you had kept the remainder of the bottle in the fridge? Or am I just dreaming that you said that? If you did, and the sample I tasted spent a whole day at a higher temperature I wonder if this partly explains the different experience. Or, perhaps you did leave some Tikka Massala in the jar just to confuse me

Have you finished the bottle now or are you holding some back for 4 or 5 days just to frustrate Roy

Derek

[Al B.]

I decanted the wine around 7pm on Monday. Knowing that I would be in Dublin and away from the wine I poured half of what I decanted into a clean half-bottle, stoppered it with a T-cork and put it in the fridge.

I then took a glassful out of the decanter and put it into the jar I gave to Derek (which had been through the dishwasher twice, to make sure it was clean), took a glass out of the decanter for Elizabeth, and finally took a glass for myself - which I wrote my tasting note on. (And had another glass later on Monday night.)

I had one generous glass left in the decanter on Tuesday night, but still found that a fruity port, rather than a tawny character.

However, last night after having come back from Dublin, I poured myself a glass out of the half-bottle and straight out of the fridge. While in the fridge for a couple of days, the wine has gone from being crystal clear to being distinctly cloudy. I also noted that the colour was not the deep, rich red of the Monday/Tuesday port, but a much paler rose colour very similar to the colour of the wine when I first decanted it.

The taste of the wine was also very different. Still amazingly thick and syrup-like, this time the dominant flavours were of black treacle and similar things. The length wasn't as long either, although it was still impressive, and the wine was certainly more tannic and had that "drying out your cheeks" effect when you swallowed.

And the best bit is...there's still some left in the half-bottle! And then we get to read Tom's tasting notes on a different bottle of the same wine.

Alex

[Tom Archer]

My birthday yesterday...

The six decanters I put out for myself and 34 friends consisted of four Offley '83, one Noval '85 (because it had started to leak) and a Croft '45.

The Croft bottle came as part of a mixed auction lot, and was very badly ullaged - slightly below the bottom of the shoulder. But that of course made it much more affordable!

Oporto bottled, the bottle had all its labels intact (though stained) - historically interesting in its own right - this bottle is not going in the bin!

Two thirds of the cork emerged intact, the rest crumbled into the bottle.

For the evening party, I decanted at 3pm.

This wine has the richest amber colour I have seen - even in the decanter, it was more golden than red.

The bouquet also was very powerful and impressive - apricots?

On the palate it was very fine and rich, but with a sharp edge.

Given the condition of it's labels and cork, I suspect that this bottle had not been well cellared over the years. I look forward to the day when I can enjoy a bottle that has been more lovingly cared for !

Now nursing hangover..

Tom

[Al B.]

Happy birthday Tom

What were your thoughts on the Noval 85 (which doesn't seem to get a good press) and the Offley '83.

Which one of the ports was thought by the audience of 34 to be the most enjoyable?

Alex

[Tom Archer]

There was no doubt as to which port was the winner - the Croft

The Offley '83 is excellent value and very good drinking. There is nothing particularly wrong with the Noval '85 - but nothing memorable about it either - bland probably sums it up best.

(I put the Noval decanter with a group of guests who were of a more philistine persuasion...)

Tom

[Roy Hersh]

This is one of my all time favorite Vintage Ports. One can never have this enough times, and certainly never, too many times. I have one bottle of it left in my cellar and just wondering out loud when I am going to be opening that one!?!?!

Roy

[John M.]

Roy Wrote

Post by Roy Hersh » Sat Dec 08, 2012 5:00 pm
This is one of my all time favorite Vintage Ports. One can never have this enough times, and certainly never, too many times. I have one bottle of it left in my cellar and just wondering out loud when I am going to be opening that one!?!?!

Roy

When you visit the New Jersey Port Club!!!!