For The Love Of Port

TN:Fonseca JM da, Setúbal Garrafiera Moscato Colhieta 1934 Centennial Bottling , Vinho Generoso, 16 pabv [approx], $0/750 mL, Morris Miller, Washington, DC, Frederick Wildman and Sons.

For those of you unfamiliar with this house, this is not a port but a Portuguese Muscat. This Fonseca house has nothing to do with the Port house, but actually is involved in the Duoro region in a small way making wines there in conjuction with the van Zellers. Setúbal is a red and white-wine region that is in the vicinity of Lisbon. If this tasting note belongs elsewhere, Roy, I'm counting on you to move it.

This bottle was about to be tossed out with lots of others that appeared to be cooked and superannuated, but it didn't look like it to me. I asked if I could be given the job of disposing of it.

Good Setúbal can be one of the best Muscat wines in the world, and well worth looking out for, and often good value. This house has great reserves of old wines that are released from time to time that should be considered for purchase.

A densely colored, tawny-green. Spicy, dusty, grapy; notes of cinnamon, tropical wood, tar, coffee, beef broth, and caramel, with the merest hint of high-toned mintiness.

Sweet but lively, integrated, and showing no hint of spiritousness, but still quite gutsy. There is a slight hint of earthiness on the medium finish.

This wine was tasted after having been opened about 3 months in bottle at room temperature, and seems to have lost little or nothing by that.

Does anyone else out there have experience with these wines and/or this house?

Hi John,

You know that I would never move your great TN on a wine like this. Sure it is from the Setubal Peninsula area of Portugal and not from Madeira or the Douro, but it is the "other" great dessert wine region in Portugal.

Jose Maria de Fonseca makes some amazing old Setubal Moscatel stickies. I am sitting on a one hundred year old bottling waiting for the right time to open one. Back in 1997, for my 40th birthday, I was given a present to try a vertical from my 1957 birth year back, including every vintage ... to 1927. The '34 was a beautiful wine and dark amber and dense, sumptuous and unforgettable.

FWIW, the partnership in Douro red wine between Cristiano van Zeller and JM de Fonseca is no longer active.

Thanks for your great posting!

I had a bottle of this about two years ago – a colleague of mine had bought it a few years before in Portugal, but thought he’d never appreciate it…so we made a trade: I got the ’34, and he got a case of Westvleteren (a rare Belgium beer). We were both happy, but I think I got the better deal…
I thought it was sublime, and extremely lively for a wine that old. Like a Madeira, the wine remained fresh long after I had opened it. I only have a single bottle of the ’65 and ’66 left.

At the time I exchanged some emails with the head winemaker at J.M. de Fonseca in order to find out a bit more about the wine. Apparently, mine was bottled sometime in the 90ies. No more stock of the ’34 remain at JMF – the last was used for their “Trilogia”-bottling: a blend of the ’00, ’34 and ’65 vintages; the three best years for MdS of the last century…I’d love to try it sometime.

I know someone in Michigan who has some of the Trilogy for sale. It's not inexpensive, but if you would like the information about this, let me know.

John, could you send me a PM with the info? TIA!

I've always enjoyed this house's Muscats. I had the 1900 a couple of years ago which was stunning.

If you keep your eyes open you can certainly snag some bargains. About two years ago, WineEx was blowing out the 1962 for $39.

It's a wine that is not well known and sometimes you can really get a great deal when a retailer/distributor gets tired of the wine gathering dust.

For those traveling to Portugal, I remember the El Corte Ingles in Lisbon having a great selection.

Steven Kooij wrote:John, could you send me a PM with the info? TIA!

done!

I was happy enough to taste some of Steven's bottle. Very, very fond memories... 8)