Recommendations for Dad's 81st

[Edward J]

My sons and I are going up to Oregon next month for my Dad's 81st birthday and I want to bring something special, unfortunately a 1934 Colheita is either really hard to find or out of my price range. I'm thinking I can spurge a bit, say no more than $250. That should give a wide range of choices. He likes his port bold, spicy and a bit drier but not to extreme, if that helps. It also should be a bottle I can obtain within 2 weeks. TIA

[Andy Velebil]

Does he prefer a older Tawny or older VP? Or it doesn't matter as he likes both? Just trying to get a feel for what we should recommend.

[Edward J]

Does he prefer a older Tawny or older VP? Or it doesn't matter as he likes both? Just trying to get a feel for what we should recommend.

Either one would be fine. The only thing I don't want to hear is "It needs a few more years". Perhaps recommend a few, even one with more finesse than power.

[Eric Ifune]

1970 Taylors or Fonseca should fit the bill.

[Moses Botbol]

1970 Taylors or Fonseca should fit the bill.

Good ones, or how about a '63 Dow?

[Jasper A.]

My sons and I are going up to Oregon next month for my Dad's 81st birthday and I want to bring something special, unfortunately a 1934 Colheita is either really hard to find or out of my price range. I'm thinking I can spurge a bit, say no more than $250. That should give a wide range of choices. He likes his port bold, spicy and a bit drier but not to extreme, if that helps. It also should be a bottle I can obtain within 2 weeks. TIA

Going for the spicy and drier, my pick would be a Taylors 1965 Single Harvest. Amazing port, still fresh and lots of complexity.

[Allan Engelsted Laurents]

Sitting in Europe too far from You. Let that be my excuse for not sending my Niepoort Colheita 1934 over to You.
Bought in Germany last Year for exactly 250€.

One Pretty good Colheita....

Good luck with Your finding.
Allan

[Edward J]

Sitting in Europe too far from You. Let that be my excuse for not sending my Niepoort Colheita 1934 over to You.
Bought in Germany last Year for exactly 250€.

One Pretty good Colheita....

Good luck with Your finding.
Allan

You did well as I've not seen it close to that price. So far I've noticed that selection in Europe is far greater than here in the States. Prices are better on average as well. I haven't been to London in almost 3 years now...I can still remember the amazing cheeses at Neal's Yard Dairy. Stilton, a fresh pear and Port, would work as a last meal for me. I'll probably look for a '57 Colheita for my 60th birthday, but so far good choices and I'm leaning towards the Dow '63 or Fonseca '70 or both. I'm thinking it would be prudent to fill in a few "ready to enjoy" special bottles that might be not so available in a few years.

[Eric Menchen]

Going for the spicy and drier, my pick would be a Taylors 1965 Single Harvest. Amazing port, still fresh and lots of complexity.

While I love me those 1960s and 1970s VPs, a recent bottling of the above or another colheita from that timeframe will have better odds of a good showing.

[Edward J]

Going for the spicy and drier, my pick would be a Taylors 1965 Single Harvest. Amazing port, still fresh and lots of complexity.

While I love me those 1960s and 1970s VPs, a recent bottling of the above or another colheita from that timeframe will have better odds of a good showing.

So are you saying that there is a good reason K&L has both these Ports at a discount? Is it more "educational" at this point or just the luck of the draw? We have managed to over age some wines over the years that I wished we hadn't (The '76 Jordan sadly comes to mind). Premeir Cru has a '61 Krohn Colheita, is this more what you are thinking? Sadly the Krohn 30yo Tawny is now $49 (not bad but not $32 either). The '65 Taylor Single Harvest is a bit scarce right now, but the '64 is available. Thanks for weighing in.

[Eric Menchen]

Roy will say provenance is everything, and if you buy an old VP now, what is the provenance? Whether a 1970 Fonseca is great isn't because it came from 1970, but where it has been in the mean time. The potential for greatness is there.

I've have many VPs from the 1960s and 1970s. Most were good, some were outstanding, and a few were disappointing. I'll just hazard a guess to say 60-70% were in the good category, and 10-20% were in each of the outstanding and disappointing categories. If you go buy a bottle from K&L, who in general I believe to be a good company, it could be an 96 pointer or an 86 pointer. I haven't had the Taylor single harvest tawny, but most of the colheitas I've had from the 1960s, recent bottlings, have been more consistently in the 90-94 point range.

Just my opinion. That and $250 will get you a nice bottle of Port or two.

[Allan Engelsted Laurents]

Sitting in Europe too far from You. Let that be my excuse for not sending my Niepoort Colheita 1934 over to You.
Bought in Germany last Year for exactly 250€.

One Pretty good Colheita....

Good luck with Your finding.
Allan

You did well as I've not seen it close to that price. So far I've noticed that selection in Europe is far greater than here in the States. Prices are better on average as well. I haven't been to London in almost 3 years now...I can still remember the amazing cheeses at Neal's Yard Dairy. Stilton, a fresh pear and Port, would work as a last meal for me. I'll probably look for a '57 Colheita for my 60th birthday, but so far good choices and I'm leaning towards the Dow '63 or Fonseca '70 or both. I'm thinking it would be prudent to fill in a few "ready to enjoy" special bottles that might be not so available in a few years.

I guess You are right Edward. It is much easier to find great Ports for a good Price here in Europe. Last month , in France I found one bottle of Ferreira Colheita 1900 for 150 €.
But I look around, to find the good prices.
Allan

[Roy Hersh]

I'd go with a 1966 Dow, a 1960 Ferreira or 1963 Warre's. All will be great. The Dow's will show nearly a decade younger than the other two, but it is consistently excellent and well priced. Either of the other two, when bottles are in top shape, will make your father a true believer in Port wine if he is not, already.

[Edward J]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I decided to make a phone call and talked to the librarian at K&L. He looked up each bottle in question that at least determined how and from whom they acquired them. I'm thinking any time you purchase something 40 - 50+ years old on the open market, you pays your money and takes your chances. I'm now thinking of getting a nice cask aged for Dad and having a holiday tasting party. Only thing is I ended up spending 5x what I thought, in what will end up to be 6VP's and 1 colheita.

[John M.]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I decided to make a phone call and talked to the librarian at K&L. He looked up each bottle in question that at least determined how and from whom they acquired them. I'm thinking any time you purchase something 40 - 50+ years old on the open market, you pays your money and takes your chances. I'm now thinking of getting a nice cask aged for Dad and having a holiday tasting party. Only thing is I ended up spending 5x what I thought, in what will end up to be 6VP's and 1 colheita.

Nice!.You are on the Slippery Slope! Wait until the day of the tasting in imminent---you'll have a lot of friends lurking for an invitation.

[Andy Velebil]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I decided to make a phone call and talked to the librarian at K&L. He looked up each bottle in question that at least determined how and from whom they acquired them. I'm thinking any time you purchase something 40 - 50+ years old on the open market, you pays your money and takes your chances. I'm now thinking of getting a nice cask aged for Dad and having a holiday tasting party. Only thing is I ended up spending 5x what I thought, in what will end up to be 6VP's and 1 colheita.

Nice!!

[Roy Hersh]

So what did you wind up buying, Edward?

[Edward J]

So what did you wind up buying, Edward?

2 each of the

1963 Warre's
1970 Dow's
1970 Fonseca

That about tapped me out for now except for one final trip into Berkeley. As I gleaned from here, Premier Cru is the place to find Colheita's so I'll try to find a few that should fill out the cellar. That will give lots of choices as to what to bring up North. ...and a few special bottles left to open for the holidays.

[Roy Hersh]

I think you've done remarkably well with your first 1/2 case purchase of VP.

Onto exploring Colheitas. If you need any insight, you know where we live ... and we'd be happy to help you load up the shopping cart.

Roy

[Edward J]

I think you've done remarkably well with your first 1/2 case purchase of VP.

Onto exploring Colheitas. If you need any insight, you know where we live ... and we'd be happy to help you load up the shopping cart.

Roy

Thanks much, I have spent many hours going over the tasting note data base here and appreciate any insights such as suggested decanting time for the 1963 Warre's? My guess would be shorter 2 hours...but I'm seeing 6-8 hours or more. As far as loading up the shopping cart if you head over to the http://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopfo ... start=2240 "what I bought forum" you can see I've been a busy boy. It's only 32 bottles or so, but it now represents half the wine in our cellar.

Btw, 1966 is a tough year to find in the US according to my searching. I'm positive your sources are better than mine. Barring the Zombie Apocalypse I'll have many years left to add and enjoy our favorite wine. Thing is we used to be big California Cabernet and Bordeaux fans, but these days Port is more satisfying and less expensive.