For The Love Of Port

In the past year I opened 1937 and 1941 Kopke Colheitas, but was pleasantly surprised to see that I still have a 1937 Rocha Colheita, albeit only a 375ml.
I still have several 1948 Suarez VPs. They've been o.k. and miss. I recently added a 1955 Cockburn VP which I have slightly better hopes for.
Oldest bottle in my cellar now is not a Port at all, but a 1922 Martinez Lacuesta Rioja Reserva Especial.

When I first started collecting in earnest, I though it would be fun to create a cellar that could yield a hundred year plus bottle every year in perpetuity.

That target has since morphed to two, and when the 1922 vintage reaches it's century in three years time, I'll probably have a hundred centenarian bottles..

Tom Archer wrote:That target has since morphed to two, and when the 1922 vintage reaches it's century in three years time, I'll probably have a hundred centenarian bottles..

Should you need any kind of help getting rid of these somewhat over the hill bottles, feel free to send out an invite for a cellar clearing party

You seem to have one of the deepest and widest cellars of vintage ports, and i salute you for it..

Eric Menchen wrote:I recently added a 1955 Cockburn VP which I have slightly better hopes for.

You are not wrong to have high hopes for that wine. It can be VERY good!

Mike J. W. wrote:My now oldest VP is a 1948 Burmester
My oldest white colheita is the Dalva Golden 1971 and my oldest red colheita is a Niepoort 1983

I completely forgot about my 1963 Burmester colheita, so that's actually my oldest red colheita.

VP: Quinta do Sibio 1902
Colheita: Burmeester 1890
Tawny: 100 Year Old Sao Leonardo (purchased through a FTLOP buying op)

I see from my cellar list that I have a few garrafeiras particulares dated between 1863 and 1900, with a few more dating to prior to the Second World War. Older GPs appear regularly on the Portuguese secondary market at modest prices relative to those fetched by known producers, though my experience to date is that, whilst everything is drinkable, the quality is (as one would expect) all over the place.

I've spent some time working through my cellar list recently and can now sort by category of Port, mainly so I can tell the answer to the question this thread asks for each category of Port I own.

Colheita - still the 1863 Burmester; likely to be opened for my 60th birthday in 2023
Crusted - the Noval Crusted, bottled in 1964
Garrafeira - only one; a half bottle of the 1964, decanted in 2014
LBV - a bottle of Warre 1969, bottled in 1973. We opened one of these a few weeks ago: it was OK but not fantastic
Ruby - a bottle of Fonseca Bin 27 bottled in 2001. Old ruby tends not to stay very long in my house as they are usually very easy to drink.
Rosé - the only Pink Port I own is a 5cl miniature bottle which came as part of the 2019 Quevedo Port Christmas Advent Calendar, presumably filled in 2019.
SQVP - I own a bottle of the Ferreira Vargellas 1868 vintage. It was meant to have been opened in 2018 on its 150th birthday, but I never quite got round to it.
Tawny - I have some basic tawny bottled in the 1960s, as far as I can guess a date from the sello and bottle style
VP - I have an 1863 Vintage Port from an unknown shipper. No prizes for guessing when that might be opened...
White - a 40 year old Kopke half bottle

Magnum - the oldest large format bottle I own is a magnum of Taylor 1935. I did own a magnum of Noval 1927, but that was opened at a dinner at the Factory House in 2017.
Half - the oldest half bottle I own is a ropey looking half bottle of Martinez 1927 and then a big jump to three halves of Gould Campbell 1963

Magnum - the oldest large format bottle I own is a magnum of Taylor 1935. I did own a magnum of Noval 1927, but that was opened at a dinner at the Factory House in 2017.

No 1897s left?

Vintage -1963 (several)
Colheita - 1900 Niepoort, bottled in 1972
Garrafeira - 1950 Niepoort (Put into demijohn in 1955, into bottles in 1979)

Vintage - 1920 I think Real Companhia. I'll know in soon enough when I open it for New Years

Colheita - 1853 Whitwham's King Pedro V Millennium Reserve's

right now it's a Butler Nephew 1975 VP

Oldest mag of VP is 1935 Cockburn's
Oldest 750 of VP is 1927 Cockburn's

Oldest mag of Colheita is 1963 Burmester
Oldest 750 of Colheita is 1952 ... several producers

Oldest Magnum is a 1977 Smith Woodhouse
Oldest VP is a 1970 Graham

Oldest Colheita a 1997 Dalva
Other: Have one bottle left of Barros Very Old Dry White whose base wine is from 1934....but it is a blend so an oddity. Been saving it for an appropriate time.

For me:
- oldest magnum for VP = 1977 Graham's
- oldest bottle for VP = 1945 Sandeman

- oldest bottle for Colheita = 1937 Feuerheerd (as "Lenteiro" on the label)
- no Colheita in magnum

- oldest magnum for LBV = 1999 Quinta das Heredias
- oldest bottle for LBV = 1973 Quinta do Noval

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Fri May 24, 2019 5:09 am

Mike J. W. wrote:My now oldest VP is a 1948 Burmester
My oldest white colheita is the Dalva Golden 1971 and my oldest red colheita is a Niepoort 1983

I completely forgot about my 1963 Burmester colheita, so that's actually my oldest red colheita.

Oldest red Colheita is now a 1955 Burmester

Pre-phylloxera, there was no hard and fast distinction between vintage port and colheitas, the bottling age was variable and not well recorded.

My oldest bottle is an 1815 Antonio Taveira; I have a total of 15 pre-1870 bottles.

- My oldest magnum is a Graham 1897

- My oldest double magnum is a Taylor 1975

- My oldest Imperial is a Fonseca 1980

My largest bottles are 1994 Nebuchadnezzars (15L) - I have two Vesuvio and one Warre.

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:12 am
- My oldest Imperial is a Fonseca 1980

Ouch. Sorry to hear

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 4:02 am

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:12 am
- My oldest Imperial is a Fonseca 1980

Ouch. Sorry to hear

Most published tasting notes on this wine are not good, but my own encounters have been of a light but otherwise sound quaff.

Tom Archer wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:12 am ...My largest bottles are 1994 Nebuchadnezzars (15L) - I have two Vesuvio and one Warre.

That's going to be quite the party when you open one of those!

Where or in what situation do you see yourself opening one of those? That's the equivalent of 20 750ml bottle.
I can't even imagine trying to decant that. If you need help drinking it though, let me know.

Where or in what situation do you see yourself opening one of those?

I have it all planned out..

The first one (V94) will be decanted at my inaugural annual large format party to be held on Bonfire Night (Nov 5th) 2024

Being in the fireworks business, and intending to have fully retired by then, it seems a fitting date.

My intention is to invite 15 - 20 people, decant it by siphoning (at first, at least) and fill a half bottle for everyone to take home with them besides drinking the rest.

On subsequent years, odd numbered years will feature a smaller gathering and two magnums adding up to exactly 100 years of age. For 2025 I hope to offer a Taylor 55 together with a magnum from 95, which I have yet to source. The Symingtons still have some Vesuvio 95 mags, but when I last enquired they were 'too deeply buried' to extract one.

On World Cup years, a double magnum will be opened, 2026 will feature a Taylor 75.

2027 is also already in stock - Warre and Smith Woodhouse magnums, both from 77.

On Olympic years, Imperial bottles will alternate between Salmanazars and Nebuchadnezzars. 2028 will be the Fonseca 80 Imperial (I suspect most of the problems with F80 come down to lousy corks. As the Imperial takes a different cork size, it will hopefully have been cut from a different stash of cork.. )

2029 will be another T55 plus an 03 mag (not yet bought)

2030 a T80 double mag

2031 a Croft 66 Mag and a Vesuvio 96 mag

2032 a Vesuvio 97 Salmanazar (9L)

- and the list goes on. The next Neb' will the W94 in 2040