Have you, or do you plan to buy any 2003 Vintage Ports?

[Moses Botbol]

I have a newbie question. What is closing down? Thanks for any info.

Similar to a sick period with cigars. Best to drink something else. If a trusted member here says a vintage has shut down, I trust them and won't bother opening a bottle to find out the same.

[Luke W]

Thank you again for the info!

Is there a general rule for how ling to wait? Or better yet, what vintage have you noticed is past this phase? Should I be looking for bottles from the 80s or early 90s?

[Glenn E.]

Is there a general rule for how ling to wait? Or better yet, what vintage have you noticed is past this phase? Should I be looking for bottles from the 80s or early 90s?

As usual, it depends. The bigger the wines, it seems, the longer they stay in their funk before re-emerging. But even that's not completely accurate. It does seem like the 1994s are emerging, but I've heard that some 1997s are too. I haven't had any 1985s or 1987s that could still be called closed, so those seem pretty safe.

My own personal rule of thumb is that a Vintage Port is likely to be closed down in some way from about 5 years of age to about 20 years of age. But part of that is a built-in assumption that I'm not going to really like a VP unless it is at least 20 years old, so once it starts to close down there's no point in trying it until at least then. Others may tell you 7-15 years. But it's really not precise - different cases that have been stored together can close down at different times. Even different bottles in the same case can have different phases.

For me personally, there's not much need to try a VP that has closed down again until it's 25-30 years old unless I hear great things about it such as with the 1985 Graham.