For The Love Of Port

Mario Ferreira of FTLOP asked me a couple of months ago whether I was aware of the launching of a new port brand called Blackett. I was not. Mario informed that he is assisting them in the initial phase, and was also on their stand at the Prowein fair in Germany in March this year.

I have had the opportunity to have a full scale testing of Blackett tawny ports 10 yrs + 20 yrs + 30 yrs old tawnies. Bottles were brought home to Norway during a Porto/Douro-visit earlier this month. Tasting notes are posted on the FTLOP Forum today. Blackett is an old port name going back to George Blackett in the 19th century.

The brand is launched by Alchemy wines http://www.alchemywines.pt and they have a web site which includes totally six ports. The above three that I have tasted, and then also a Tawny Reserve, a 2013 Vintage Port and an Extra Dry White Port. So far they seems to be available only in Portugal.
There is also an Alchemy Wine in U.K., but the two companies are apparently not linked.

After what I understand the port itself has been purchased from existing old stocks at other port producers. I have been informed that the Portuguese Alchemy Wines own a property located between Regua and Armamar (i.e. on the south side of Douro).

Has anyone else tried these three tawnies or some of the three other Blackett ports?
As you will see from the three tasting notes posted on the FTLOP Forum today, I liked the style.

Rune EG wrote: So far they seems to be available only in Portugal.

The are available from the Danish importer Herningvincenter. PM' me for a direct url or make a search.

For me they seem priced a bit high. If you buy single bottles they are more expensive than S. Leonardo for a tawny of the same age. Have not tried them myself.

Never heard of them so thanks for posting the information. Not easy, or cheap, to start a new Port company.

Hi Rune - That's correct, the current portfolio for Blackett Ports is just 6 wines:

Blackett, Extra Dry White.
Blackett, Reserve Tawny.
Blackett, 10 Years Old Tawny.
Blackett, 20 Years Old Tawny.
Blackett, 30 Years Old Tawny.
Blackett, 2013 Vintage Port.

So a new port company is launching a 30yr old on day one - amazing how fast some barrels mature...

- Whose wine are they actually selling?

Tom Archer wrote:So a new port company is launching a 30yr old on day one - amazing how fast some barrels mature...

- Whose wine are they actually selling?

Could be that they have been selling their grapes for the last many years, but still have kept old colheitas in their own cellars during that period.

That would allow them to be able to sell a 30YO tawny on day one of them going independently.

Tom Archer wrote:So a new port company is launching a 30yr old on day one - amazing how fast some barrels mature...

- Whose wine are they actually selling?

No different than all the companies who buy from other companies. What's the big deal, that's normal


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Yeah, buying/selling of older stocks is a pretty common thing, especially to keep in line with the beneficio. I'm sure many shippers have substantial amounts of others' wine in their TWIOA blends.


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Bradley Bogdan wrote:Yeah, buying/selling of older stocks is a pretty common thing, especially to keep in line with the beneficio. I'm sure many shippers have substantial amounts of others' wine in their TWIOA blends.


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And Colheita's.

Tom,
I figured you already knew this?

I figured you already knew this?

Of course, I know the trade in old casks..

My real question is, who are these people? - Are they buying all their stock from a single source? - is this a second label or a re-branding exercise? Is this a small producer that has tried to sell their products under their Quinta name with limited success and has now teamed up with a marketing guy to put a new face on things?

Or is this a guy trying to replicate the shippers of old, buying what he can, where he can, to produce a range of products??

Tom Archer wrote:

I figured you already knew this?

Of course, I know the trade in old casks..

My real question is, who are these people? - Are they buying all their stock from a single source? - is this a second label or a re-branding exercise? Is this a small producer that has tried to sell their products under their Quinta name with limited success and has now teamed up with a marketing guy to put a new face on things?

Or is this a guy trying to replicate the shippers of old, buying what he can, where he can, to produce a range of products??

Ah, ok. Understand what you mean now. Would be nice to know the background on this producer.

Hi there, everyone!
I'm very happy to see your debate about our company "Alchemy Wines" and our Blackett Port.

Rune EG wrote:I have had the opportunity to have a full scale testing of Blackett tawny ports 10 yrs + 20 yrs + 30 yrs old tawnies. Bottles were brought home to Norway during a Porto/Douro-visit earlier this month. Tasting notes are posted on the FTLOP Forum today. Blackett is an old port name going back to George Blackett in the 19th century.

The brand is launched by Alchemy wines http://www.alchemywines.pt and they have a web site which includes totally six ports. The above three that I have tasted, and then also a Tawny Reserve, a 2013 Vintage Port and an Extra Dry White Port. So far they seems to be available only in Portugal.
There is also an Alchemy Wine in U.K., but the two companies are apparently not linked.

This is all correct and yes, we're not linked to Alchemy Wine in UK.
We started Alchemy Wines in 2013 and started to bottle this amazing product with the Blackett brand in 2014.
Nowadays, we have 6 different labels (Extra Dry White, Tawny Reserve, 10y, 20y, 30y and Vintage 2013).
Any questions that you may have about our company and brand, please do not hesitate to ask. I would be very happy to respond.
Vicente

I was visiting Oporto in June of 2016 with my family...my wife is Portuguese. A childhood friend of the family owns the vineyard in the Alto Douro Region where the grapes are grown. There is a small winery that I believe is only partially owned by the family but the grapes are produced by them. The casks in the winery were labeled by year and they did go back a long,, long way and they had a small tasting room to sample the various Blacketts ports. This was on a tributary of the Douro east of Oporto almost to the Spanish border at a fairly high altitude for Portugal and a quite rural area. I gather that this was the farthest navigable place to ship Port downriver and there was a small railhead there as well. To say that we were impressed is an understatement. I had each of my children take a bottle in their checked luggage coming back to the US. We did more than our fair share of tasting Ports in Oporto and here in the US and we all thought this was the "Nectar of the Gods".

Wish I could find a distributor here in the US.

s doyle wrote:I was visiting Oporto in June of 2016 with my family...my wife is Portuguese. A childhood friend of the family owns the vineyard in the Alto Douro Region where the grapes are grown. There is a small winery that I believe is only partially owned by the family but the grapes are produced by them. The casks in the winery were labeled by year and they did go back a long,, long way and they had a small tasting room to sample the various Blacketts ports. This was on a tributary of the Douro east of Oporto almost to the Spanish border at a fairly high altitude for Portugal and a quite rural area. I gather that this was the farthest navigable place to ship Port downriver and there was a small railhead there as well. To say that we were impressed is an understatement. I had each of my children take a bottle in their checked luggage coming back to the US. We did more than our fair share of tasting Ports in Oporto and here in the US and we all thought this was the "Nectar of the Gods".

Wish I could find a distributor here in the US.

Lucky you!! And good thing for the kids , lol. Next time take some wine shipping boxes and stock up!


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I believe this is a brand I recently started seeing in MA. They were selling for a premium price as well...

I tried these this past spring in Portugal, the 10, 20, and 30. I thought them of very good quality. The 10 and 30 maybe a bit expensive relative to other brands.

Hey y'all:

Just got back from Port Harvest Tour 2 and we got to taste these at the Quinta. Turns out that the folks behind Brunheda are responsible in part for these wines. Not exactly sure what the exact relationship is but we tasted them and bought them from Brunheda while we were there.

I ended up buying the 30 yro because it was really, really good and the price in Portugal direct was outstanding. I thought the whole line-up was decent and is worth checking out if they are available in your area.

-Lisa

My tasting notes on these Ports were included in the last newsletter. I've now had them all on four separate occasions.