What have you opened this week?

[Moses Botbol]

1963 Croft last night. Nice heat with some mandarin orange flavors. Very slight touch of TCA or other funky thing, but not enough to dominate the other flavors. Says bottled by Croft in UK. Were there Portuguese bottled versions of '63 Croft as well?

[David Spriggs]

Were there Portuguese bottled versions of '63 Croft as well?

Yes. I've seen pictures of them, but I have never held one in my hand. So the Portuguese bottling must be fairly rare.

[Moses Botbol]

Were there Portuguese bottled versions of '63 Croft as well?

Yes. I've seen pictures of them, but I have never held one in my hand. So the Portuguese bottling must be fairly rare.

Seems like any Portuguese bottled vintage port older than 1970 from a British name brand is rare in the States.

[Andy Velebil]

1977 Smith Woodhouse...flawed. Argh! When I cut the capsule, the top of the cork was riddled with mold. The cork was saturated and came out in pieces. It smelled musty as I was decanting it but I took a sip and could taste a very smooth, sweet, slightly spicy port, but nonetheless tainted. But the taint grew stronger the longer it sat in the decanted. I had a glass the first few nights but it progressively became overwhelming and I had to pour the remains down the drain. I have a few other bottles of it so I will try it again soon.

FYI, mold under the capsule of an older (and sometimes not so old) well stored bottle is perfectly normal and doesn’t affect anything. Just the result of being stored in a humid cellar.

Best to wipe it off with a damp rag before removing cork.

[Mike J. W.]

1963 Croft last night. Nice heat with some mandarin orange flavors. Very slight touch of TCA or other funky thing, but not enough to dominate the other flavors. Says bottled by Croft in UK. Were there Portuguese bottled versions of '63 Croft as well?

My bottles are ambiguous as to where they were actually bottled.

[Moses Botbol]

Here's the one I had on Friday night:

[Mike J. W.]

Definitely different at the bottom. And the capsule looks slightly different than the ones on my bottles as well. I have the soft, plastic capsule.

[Moses Botbol]

Definitely different at the bottom. And the capsule looks slightly different than the ones on my bottles as well. I have the soft, plastic capsule.

Here's some different iterations of the same vintage to further confuse. Maybe the crested bottle is Portuguese? Will have to dig that one for a better photo. This one is several years old.

[Al B.]

a bottle of Graham 1963

I have three small stashes of G63 left - a total of ten bottles. All are in such good order, with levels in neck, that the 'puter never selects one for home drinking..

..must bring one to a tasting when things return to normal..

Yes please do! I love G63 and would never turn down a chance to drink it.

[Al B.]

I’ve just opened (and drunk) a bottle of Cockburn 1967. Absolutely delicious drinking at the moment.

[Mike J. W.]

After opening the flawed '77 Woodhouse last weekend, I decided to open a '77 Graham's last Sunday. That was delicious. Medium body, fully mature with a little heat, spicy but so smooth. I went through it in 4 days which is fast for me. 93+ points

Today I opened a 1985 Harveys Vintage Port. It was bottled by Martinez Gassiot. I won 6 bottles in an auction for less than $30 a bottle and if the other 5 bottles are like this one, it's a steal. It has a medicine cabinet smell, but it has long legs and drinks very nicely. It has good acidity and it tastes like warm cinnamon and cloves, almost like a thicker mulled wine. Very good 35 year old cellar defender with a great QPR. 91 points.

[David Spriggs]

Brunheda 40 year Old Tawny Port - Amazing!
The tasting note is here

[Al B.]

Opened a 1997 Quinta de la Rosa on Tuesday night. Delicious Port, still so full of dense fruit.

[Glenn E.]

S. Leonardo 30 Year Old Tawny Port. With luck, this will last me through the holiday weekend!

[Al B.]

S. Leonardo 30 Year Old Tawny Port. With luck, this will last me through the holiday weekend!

Glenn - do you recall what the blend is for the 40YO S. Leonardo Tawny? IIRC the 100 year old is 50% 1896 and 50% 1927 but I don’t remember the 40YO blend.

[Glenn E.]

I suspect it has been changing over the recent decade. The mother wine used to be 1948, but I believe that is no longer the case.

Regardless, I've never known the full blend of the 40.

BTW that's the "old" 100 year old blend (though as I recall it is 1895). IIRC (I'd have to check my notes from the visit) the "new" blend starting in 2018 is 1880, 1905, and 1927.

[Jonathan S]

1997 Smith Woodhouse VP (375 mL) (11/22)

[Eric Menchen]

S. Leonardo 20 Year Old Tawny Port

[Glenn E.]

BTW that's the "old" 100 year old blend (though as I recall it is 1895). IIRC (I'd have to check my notes from the visit) the "new" blend starting in 2018 is 1880, 1905, and 1927.

Confirmed from my notes taken at the Quinta in 2018. Old blend is 1895 and 1927, new blend is 1880, 1905, and 1927. There was another test version of a new blend that PHT1 got to taste in 2018, and that test blend used 4 wines, but it was never released and I don't have the list of wines. (One of the Sammamish Port Club members at the time was on that tour and told me what they were, but I have since forgotten what he told me.)

My Facebook profile picture is me holding a glass of each from that trip.

[John M.]

Total Wine has been stocking a lot of Quinta das Carvalhas port this year. I’ve been generally ignoring it, but last week I noticed they had a packaged set of miniatures - 10yo, 20yo, 30yo, and 40yo. I love sets like this - it’s how I got into Scotch years ago, with a miniature set of 4 different regions. Anyway, this looked like too much fun to pass up, so I bought one and split each bottle with a friend last weekend. I found them perfectly acceptable and enjoyable. Not up to the standards of the ‘reference’ bottles we compared them against (Noval 10, Ferreira 20, Kopke 30, Vale d. Maria 40), but not bad.

I saw one of these and bought it. Really not a bad deal and a nice little tasting!