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birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:20 am
by Erik Wiechers
I was wondering, do people here try to aquire as many different porthouses from their birthyear ?
I was lucky to be born in the good port year 1966, and have no trouble finding ports from that year.
I own at the moment 3 houses, Graham's, Noval and Warre's
Anyone else into this ?
Cheers
erik
EDIT: i see different topics with the word birthyear in it, but cant find a topic specifically dedicated to birthyear ports
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:35 am
by Eric Menchen
I have a 1968 Noval Colheita that was a gift from my parents, but my options are slim. There is Taylor Quinta de Vargellas VP, but I don't know if it is any good these days. If I saw one for a reasonable price I would try it, but the few I've seen were too expensive for the risk. I did get to taste the 1968 Quevedo Colheita, and that was a nice treat.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 10:14 am
by Glenn E.
I collect as many of them as I can find! So far I have:
1964 Noval Colheita (12)
1964 Krohn White Colheita (5)
1964 Dow Grande Reserve Colheita (5)
1964 Noval Nacional (1)
1964 Graham Malvedos (1)
1964 Fonseca Guimaraens (1)
1964 Taylor Vargellas (1)
There are a few more that I know about but haven't been able to buy yet. The rarest being the 1964 Niepoort Garrafeira - that's my "grail" bottle at the moment.
I get to drink one bottle every year and an extra bottle on special years. The Noval Colheita is still pretty easy to find, so that's my standard and I use the others as variation.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:37 pm
by Ronald Wortel
I am from 1975, so ehm... no.
I have tried several 1975's and came to the conclusion that is makes much more sense to collect ports from LadyR's birth year, which is 1977. We have a good collection of those.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 12:15 am
by Roy Hersh
My birth year is best with Colheitas (1957) and so far I've had a handful. The best VINTAGE PORT I have had from my birth years is by far the Sandeman.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:46 pm
by Marco D.
Mine is 1961. I remember reading that it is Richard Mayson's birth year as well. He mentions having a stash of 1961 Taylor Vargellas. I've been looking for that wine for some time...
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:40 pm
by Eric Menchen
It is out of stock, but supposedly if K&L gets a bottle of 1961 Taylor Vargellas in, they'll sell it to you for $99:
https://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=980175
And I have some land for sale too.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:51 pm
by Glenn E.
I ran into that today, too. Acker has a '64 Dow VP listed through winesearcher.com, but when I sent an email to inquire about the bottle they said it had already been sold. Hmm... then why is it still listed with today's date?
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:39 pm
by Steve E.
I'm a 1969 and my wife is a 1971...
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:52 pm
by Eric Ifune
59'er here. Haven't seen one; only a few Madeiras. Lots of table wines and botrytised wines however.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 4:13 pm
by Gary Banker
I was born in 1946. From what I have been told, there was some drinkable champagne that year. There is also some very good armagnac, if you have deep pockets and a taste for armagnac. Are there any colheitas?
Fortunately, RWC have imported 1946 Barbeito bual. Maybe they will also import the malvazia and the verdelho some day.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 3:31 pm
by Al B.
I was fortunate enough to have been born in 1963 - good planning by my parents - and intend to celebrate my 50th birthday with a big tasting over a number of days of as many different VPs from that vintage as I can get my hands on. So far I have around 20 different shippers.
About a week ago, I had a 1961 LBV. That was very good. I've also had a Dow 1961 LBV and a Noval Crusted principally from the 1961 vintage but blended with 1962 and bottled in 1964. All of these have been exceedingly enjoyable and well worth seeking out if you are 50 next year (but be prepared for a major outlay!). I've never seen a vintage port from 1961.
I think I have seen some vintage port from 1946, although I've never tasted one and guess I could have imagined it.
Niepoort (and perhaps others) made a colheita from the 1959 vintage.
1969 and 1971 I have never seen or tasted. 1968 is unusual but by no means impossible to find. 2 years ago DRT gave a friend a bottle of Malvedos 1968 as a 40th birthday present. I've also drunk colheitas from Andresen and Niepoort from that year and a Martinez Crusted that was bottled in 1968. There was also a Fonseca Guimaraens made in 1968.
And if you were lucky enough to have been born in 1966, then you have the same problem as me - where on earth do you stop!
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:30 am
by dom carter
1975 here, so no port of any note (i've tried and it's not worth it!), so i perfer to pick up a '77 and convince myself that i'm 2 years younger
![Toast [cheers.gif]](./images/smilies/cheers.gif)
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:48 pm
by Todd Pettinger
1976 here, so the Fonseca Guimaraens is pretty darn good from that year. Aside from that, there are some Colheitas, I have had the fortune of trying the Warres and one other. I owned a bottle of the Niepoort 1976 Colheita, but the gods demanded a sacrifice for me lying to Canadian customs (about having two bottles instead of three) and they chose my 76 colheita for their vengence. (See kids, crime just DOES NOT pay!!! )
Aside from the Fonseca Guimaraens I haven`t seen too many other VPs from 76.
Todd
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:28 pm
by Paul_B
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 9:05 am
by Glenn E.
Glenn E. wrote:I collect as many of them as I can find! So far I have:
1964 Noval Colheita (12)
1964 Krohn White Colheita (5)
1964 Dow Grande Reserve Colheita (5)
1964 Noval Nacional (1)
1964 Graham Malvedos (1)
1964 Fonseca Guimaraens (1)
1964 Taylor Vargellas (1)
There are a few more that I know about but haven't been able to buy yet. The rarest being the 1964 Niepoort Garrafeira - that's my "grail" bottle at the moment.
I get to drink one bottle every year and an extra bottle on special years. The Noval Colheita is still pretty easy to find, so that's my standard and I use the others as variation.
I picked up a 1964 Warre Grand Reserve after this year's Harvest Tour. The bottle is one of the light green type so I can tell that the Port is already cloudy in the bottle, but the price was okay (for a rare 1964) so I had to buy it anyway. The same shop at a 1964 Messias and one other that I can't remember off the top of my head - possibly a Feist - but those were both priced outrageously.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:24 am
by Jay Hack
1951. Ugh! Worst year of the Century. I have a few bottles of an Offley Baron de Forrester that are OK, but that's it.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:22 pm
by Dries V.
Jay Hack wrote:1951. Ugh! Worst year of the Century. I have a few bottles of an Offley Baron de Forrester that are OK, but that's it.
You think so. Try 1981. I only know that Quinta do Infantado made some. Yet impossible to find...
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:13 pm
by Lamont Huxley
I was born in '75 and have only had the Taylor's several years ago which happened to be a very enjoyable though delicate VP. I'm curious to try some of the others that I've heard are decent but for the prices they go for I prefer to spend my money on wines from more reliable years.
Re: birthyear ports
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 4:05 pm
by Andy Velebil
I'm a 1973 Vintage, which has to be one of the worst years to try and find Port. I know of a couple of different Ports that have actual vintages on them, one's not for sale at the moment though. And one that's not offically able to have a vintage year on the label, but I've been told by the producer it's from 1973.
There used to be a 1973 Noval LBV at a shop in Gaia that was something like 300-350 Euros in a shop that was hotter inside the shop than outside on a warm summer day, so that was an easy pass.