1963 VP tasting

[Andreas Nielsen]

Tonight 29 members of the Copenhagen based port tasting group, Portvinsklubben af 1981, met to taste six 1963 VPs. The line-up was known beforehand but it was not known in what order the wines would be served. The six bottles were: Fonseca, Taylor's, Graham's, Quintra do Noval, Cockburn's and Delaforce.

The wines were scored on the 20-point scale. My score is stated first and followed by the group average.

Wine #1: Bright ruby at the core and light pink rim. Wonderful nose with sweet raspberries, cherry and marzipan. Quite round, nice fruity taste and sweet but a bit too much heat for it to be great. Score 17; 16,6. (Quinta do Noval).

Wine #2: A lot darker than wine #1. Sadly it was corked. The nose of off but you could sense some good stuff Deep down. Taste not that affected (actually tasted quite good) but hard to evaluate. The other table had an unaffected bottled and they were very happy. (Fonseca).

Wine #3: Medium ruby color. The best nose of the night for me. Elegant, floral and stuffed with candied red berries. Simply wonderful. Again quite fruity and fresh on the palate with a very nice balance between fruit, sweetness and heat. Score 18; 16,0. (Cockburn's).

Wine #4: Looked like an old tawny or a very very old VP. Yellow and transparent. The nose was also quite tawny like with spices and caramel. Again a tawny taste (although not as sweet as an old tawny) with nuts and honey. Score 16; 16,8. (Graham's bottled in Denmark).

Wine #5: Ruby color and not a big difference between core and rim. Again something was off on the nose. Not corked like the Fonseca but just quite dull. Some said heavy VA. Tasted a bit old and dusty - the fruit couldn't really cut through. Again the other table had a perfect bottle and it was signing. Talk about bad luck. (Taylor's).

Wine #6: Reminded me of wine #3 regarding color and aroma but seemed a bit more powerful though. Again the nose was full of sweet fruit and quite complex. On the palate it had a nice freshness and plenty of dark fruit. This wine was also very balanced and had a delicious spicy aftertaste. Score: 18; 17,3. (Delaforce).

Andreas

[Andy Velebil]

Nice notes. A real shame on those which were corked or didn't show well. As those normally among the best of the vintage at this stage of their lives.

(FYI, I'll split these out into individual TN's for the TNDB in a couple days so they are easier to search for later).

[Andreas Nielsen]

Nice notes. A real shame on those which were corked or didn't show well. As those normally among the best of the vintage at this stage of their lives.

(FYI, I'll split these out into individual TN's for the TNDB in a couple days so they are easier to search for later).

Thanks Andy. I hope one day to taste a perfect 1963 Taylor and again taste a perfect Fonseca. Remember the 63 Fonseca as being wonderful and the best port I have ever had together with the 1985 Fonseca.

Also thanks for your help with transfering the TNs to the database.