For The Love Of Port

How long are cohleita's good for in the bottle?

From a good producer and year. 100-150 years?

Also to FTLOP

I disagree with the previous poster ... big time.

While his answer would have been accurate if the question had been in relation to the Port's time in wood; the answer doesn't work for bottle aging except in very rare examples and I would be that that author has had few if any Ports aged in bottle that long. But that's not even the point.

It depends on what you like from your colhieta. All producers bottle their colheita wines so they are ready for drinking. This may involve a little blending across casks but is intended to deliver to the consumer a port which is fresh and vibrant. That's the reason why you see a fair number of producers now bottle to order for their old (1960s and older) wines.

A small number of producers also aim to capture properties in their colheita ports which are expected to allow them to age and mature in the bottle. This will have the effect of softening the sharp edges to the wine and adding some complexity.

But even for producers who don't intend their wines to be matured in the bottle, I've yet to come across a bottle of colheita port which has been aged in the bottle and become undrinkable. While they change and may be less impressive than when first bottled, your perception is a matter of personal taste. I quite like colheita (or even aged tawny ports) which have been in the bottle for a decade or two — or even longer. The best thing to do is to experiment. Try it with a 20 year old tawny port, which you can find quite easily either freshly bottled or bottled 10-20 years ago. See which you prefer ... and let us know!

I don't drink as much colheita port as some of the folks on the forum, but I've had a bit. Roy and I have had a few colheita ports which have been in the bottle for a long time. In July 2007 we had a bottle of Niepoort 1912, which was bottled in 1977 so had 30 years of bottle age when drunk - I gave it 93 points. A few years later we had a bottle of Burmester 1863, bottled in 1932 and which had had 81 years of bottle age when opened. That I only gave 88 points!

We've done some comparisons at tastings over the years among the same Colhietas with different bottling dates. I am struggling to remember a single one where that consensus favored the older bottling date. To Alex's point, the more recently the Colheitas have been bottled, the more fresh and vibrant (perfect words, Alex) the wines are.

However, it seems like the declining bottle freshness might be a gradual thing. When I am tasting Colheitas that have a lot of bottle years on them, they haven't been unpleasant at all - and it is really hard to tell what are the wine characteristics vs. what characteristics have evolved as a result of time in bottle.

Tasting Colheitas with a decade or more bottling date differences has been a really insightful way to see how those years in bottle have affected the wine.

Given the dwindling quantities of especially the older Colheitas, bottling date becomes less of a controllable issue as a consumer. Sometimes you just have to buy them, even if aging them isn't likely to dramatically improve or negatively impact the wines.

I would not buy Colheitas with the intent on even mid term aging. That being said, Niepoort's hold up well with 20-40 years of bottle aging. Kopke is another one, but the aged Colheita realm seems to be Niepoort's suit.

Robert Veselis wrote:How long are cohleita's good for in the bottle?

For an average offering from an average producer, I'd say 4-5 years. Older offerings (that have spent more time in wood to start with), or offerings from higher-tier producers, can easily handle 7-8 years and often more. I just opened a 1937 Noval bottled in 2008 and it was fabulous. A couple of producers - Kopke and Niepoort are examples - do quite well with bottle age, especially Niepoort.

In many ways it depends on what you want from bottle aging. I prefer bottle aged Kopkes because I think it mellows out their acidity and makes the Port more enjoyable.

Stewart T. wrote:We've done some comparisons at tastings over the years among the same Colhietas with different bottling dates. I am struggling to remember a single one where that consensus favored the older bottling date.

Be careful putting much stock in those tastings, as you're not comparing apples to apples. In order to taste the same wine at a tasting you're giving one of them some number of extra years in wood. Since tawnies generally continue to improve with more time in wood, it could very easily be the extra wood aging that's causing those bottles to win the comparison over their partially bottle-aged brothers.

Stewart T. wrote:I am struggling to remember a single one where that consensus favored the older bottling date.

Just thought of an example - the 1952 Dalva Golden White Colheita.

Pretty much everyone agrees that the 2006 bottling shows better than any of the subsequent bottlings (2007-2009). But to reiterate my point above, that's likely due to changes in the wine that was kept in cask for an additional 1-3 years.

Thank you all for the insightful replies. I just purchased a collection of colheitas bottled from 1 to 10 years ago, your helpful comments will make drinking them that much more enjoyable!