Which Vintage to buy? A useful list for shopping

[Steven Kooij]

Did you ever come across a bottle of VP whilst shopping or browsing the web and thinking to yourself: “it might be a good price, but was it a good year?” We probably all know about years like 2003, 2000, 1997 and 1994, but what what about the older vintages? Hope this helps:

1799 – Bad
1800 – Bad
1801 – Generally bad, some good
1802 – Good
1803 – Good
1804 – Good
1805 – Middling
1806 – Very good
1807 – Ordinary
1808 – Middling
1809 – Middling, but some of high flavour
1810 – Some good, of full flavour
1811 – Some good
1812 – Good, some very fine
1813 – Ordinary
1814 – Ditto
1815 – Very good
1816 – Middling
1817 – Ordinary
1818 – Middling, some good
1819 – Ditto, some high flavoured
1820 – Very good

Note that the wines from 1810 until 1814 tend to fetch the highest prices: between £ 105 and £ 133 per two pipes. That makes the 1815 a real bargain at £ 93, not to mention the 1820 at just £ 78! Buy while stocks still last!

Right, seriously now, the above Vintage list is indeed a true assessment made by Cyrus Redding in his 1833 classic “A History and Description of Modern Wines”, and the prices are as he quoted them. I copied the list from the third edition from 1851, which is available copyright-free from books.google.com. I am working on an article on Port as seen / tasted from an early 19th century perspective using this resource, and hope to post it in about 2 months time here.

[Tom Archer]

Great find!

When I scrolled down I was really disappointed to see it end so early!

Interesting to see every year mentioned - I wonder when the concept of 'declared years' evolved - I wonder if in those days the wine got shipped every year - good or bad.

Tom

[dlester]

Interesting to see every year mentioned - I wonder when the concept of 'declared years' evolved - I wonder if in those days the wine got shipped every year - good or bad.

Tom,

I imagine that during this period, port drinkers were just glad to get any supply at all!

The demand within the English market would have been there: recall that gentlemen were described as one, two or three bottle men, in an age where Burgundy and Bordeaux were seen as mere soft drinks. Supply, on the other hand, depended on our Jolly Jack Tars' proficiency in our international "sporting competitions" against France and Spain.

One has to pity the Scottish drinker during this unhappy period: doomed to abstinence from his beloved Cognac by a seemingly interminable war with it's source!

[Stuart Chatfield]

recall that gentlemen were described as one, two or three bottle men, in an age where Burgundy and Bordeaux were seen as mere soft drinks.

Didn't Frank "Smiler" Yeatman (of Taylors) describe his intake as "a pipe per year" ? I think that's about 2 bottles per day - of port!

And I think he lived to a ripe old age. Unlike George Best, who I think had four bottles of white wine a day - probably about the same in alcohol content!

[Roy Hersh]

An excellent thread and very interesting to read.

The best theory on the very first Vintage Port as we know it today, in terms of flavor, fortification, wood age etc... was 1820 from what I have found in my research and discussions in Portugal.