For The Love Of Port

I'm new here, so please bear with me as I relate a story that may be longer than it ought to be...

This past weekend I had the opportunity to have dinner with friends who recently vacationed in Portugal. While there, they spent nearly a week with the family of a friend at their 'estate' in the Duoro valley. They toured several Port operations and enjoyed their time there immensely.

My friend had been given two bottles of wine from the family's cellar. Both bottles were green, unlabeled, and closed with a short (~1.5 in) cork. He was told that they were produce of the family's own vinyard circa 1960. He had already opened one bottle on his anniversary. As it was near to both our birthdays, my friend suggested we open the remaining bottle.

We opened the bottle and decanted it to the best of our ability. The cork came out in one piece and the bottle showed a fair amount of sediment. Oddly (to me) the wine poured a medium amber color, similar to young whisky or honey. The aroma was immediately of alcohol, then mellowed out a bit to something like toffee.

It tasted, to me, of brown sugar and oak. It had a definite alcohol finish, but not overly harsh.

So, my question is, without much to go on, what was it that we consumed? The color was unexpected, for me. The flavors were similar to some of the tawnies that I've been drinking, but it was definitely bottled with sediment.

Also, does anyone know whether non-commercial production of wine is common in the Duoro? This family, while apparently quite wealthy, is not involved in the Port wine trade.

Thanks for indulging me!

Ryan.

Ryan,

Indulging new members of the FTLOP is what we're all about. Again, welcome aboard as I enjoyed your other intriguing post as well. Please stay awhile.

I'll do my best to surmise the possibilities for you and also provide some certainty. Let's start with possibilities:

What you consumed:

a. A Vintage Port that had prematurely aged to a Tawny stage. This is certainly possible and even quite likely if it came from a vintage circa 1960 not known for it's greatness or long term ageability. 1959, 1960 and 1962 immediately come to mind.

b. It could have been a Vintage Port from a sound vintage, which had the cork fail and allowed some oxygen into the bottle and therefore the amber color. This happens on occasion and is not rare. But usually there are tell-tale signs like seepage, extremely smooth and non-tannic profile, disjointed alcohol.

c. My bet is that it is actually a vintage dated Tawny Port, better known as a Colheita. They can and do sometimes (depending on whether the producer fines/filters) throw a sediment too and can improve within the bottle. As I am assuming your friend was visiting a Portuguese producer (vs. German, Dutch, British etc.) the likelihood is even greater.

Now to the facts:

It is VERY common practice by almost ALL producers to keep back bottles for the use of the family. This is especially the case when a child is born, a wedding takes place or a significant anniversary or special event happens within their family. I have tasted many such bottles in Portugal and through the rare gift bottle. Additionally, some growers/producers/shippers maintain a library of their bottlings year in and year out, regardless of whether they were ever "declared" or commercially released.

I hope this may shed some light on your questions and I am sure you will have other folks chiming in with other possibilities for you.

One last question (might seem silly, but I do have to ask ...) Doesn't your friend have the ability to contact the family that gave him the bottle and just ask them what the Port was?

Roy,

Thanks for the kind welcome (and for humoring me). Strangely, the idea of simply asking the family hadn't occurred to me! I will attempt to do exactly that.

However, if I hadn't made it clear already, the bottle that we enjoyed was from a private vinyard in the Duoro. I do not believe the owners are involved in producing grapes for sale. I think that the wine was made solely for the enjoyment of family and friends...much as I enjoyed the occasional bottle of home-made grappa with my proprietario when I lived in Italy.

Again, thanks for the response.

Ryan.

Hi Ryan,

According to the size of the cork, I'd presume that this bottle was a colheita. I don't think this size of cork would have resisted 46 years on a bottle of VP. The family probably has a reserve of old port in barrels that they bottle without filtration when they need it, hence the amount of sediments.

I've met a couple of family owned quintas during my last trip and tasted some of their products. As a critics I would say that while these products are enjoyable they really lack some skills in the vineyards and in winemaking.

It is quite comon to have family owned production in the Douro has more than 30 000 owner share the land of the DOC. Most of them sell grapes to Co-Op or directly to Port shipers, sometimes they keep a small quantity for family use or even entirely for them.