1955 Vintage Port Tasting + Colheitas: Napa, CA February 24, 2018

[Shawn Denkler]

I am hosting a tasting of seven 1955 Vintage Ports in Napa, CA on February 24, 2018. The tasting will be at my house unless I find a winery or other venue to host the tasting.

Dow
Fonseca
Graham
Niepoort
Sandeman
Taylor
Warre

I believe these are the best of the vintage at this point in time. I've had at least six more and they were good but not great years ago. These have been selected carefully for the best condition and provenance out of multiple bottles.

To round out the tasting I want to pour some Colheitas since 1952 and 1957 are so good. I have 1952 Niepoort but would like to have others too. People could trade into the tasting with another Colheita. I paid an average of $425 for the seven VPs so need to recover that. People could pay $300 to attend.

I'm hosting a vertical of Quinta do Vesuvio the previous night - see that topic. Hopefully having two tastings makes it worth coming to Napa for the weekend.

Moderator edit: added link to Vesuvio tasting.

[Eric Menchen]

I've had great 1952 and 1957 colheitas. Checking my inventory, I own a 1955 Kopke colheita; but alas it is only a 375ml bottle. But still, I thought you might want to know that such things exist as well.

[Glenn E.]

Shawn, please put me down for both tastings! My wife and I are going to make a mini-vacation out of it and drive down together. I have several bottles that could fit one or both themes, including both 1952 and 1957 Colheitas, as well as a 1955 Graham VP. I also have a variety of Vesuvios which we can discuss offline.

Since we'll be making a mini-vacation out of it, I'd appreciate some recommendations for things to do on Fri/Sat during the day. As I recall you had a hotel recommendation in the other thread, so we'll probably stay there just to make things easy.

[Eric Menchen]

I'm interested in both. I have a 1957 Kopke that I could bring, and plenty of Vesuvio. Actually, Glenn has my bottle of 1957 Kopke right now (long story, different thread), and since he's coming ... this just might work out.

[Al B.]

I really need to retire. This work thing is such a bust. I'd love to come over, but can't.

Hey ho. Maybe another year.

[Shawn Denkler]

I have three different bottlings of 1955 Fonseca. I wanted to be sure of using the best bottling for the tasting so I opened one today. I was with a number of winemakers and we were stunned at how deep the color is and how much fruit it has. It was a great bottle. I used port tongs to confirm the cork was branded properly as the label stated. I've had 1970 Fonseca four times in the last two years from multiple bottlings. The 1955 is far better than any of the 1970 Fonsecas. I will be using another bottle from the same source for the tasting. It also has great color and I will be thrilled to have it again.

Dirk Niepoort has said that his 1955 is as great as the Fonseca so I'm looking forward to trying them side by side at the tasting. It is one 1955 I've never had before since older Niepoort vintage ports are very hard to get. I've had ten other 1955s and expect the Fonseca and Niepoort to be the wines of the night.

Some places are still available for the tasting.

[Shawn Denkler]

The tasting is in less than two weeks. I want the ports to show their best.

1955 Fonseca & Niepoort --- decant six hours?

Other 1955s --- decant four hours?

It is winter so they will be stored at about 60 degrees after decanting and before being brought to the tasting lounge.

[Eric Menchen]

The tasting is in less than two weeks. I want the ports to show their best.
1955 Fonseca & Niepoort --- decant six hours?
Other 1955s --- decant four hours? ...

I don't recall when we are starting and how long we have, but if we have plenty of time, maybe less than six for the Fonseca and Niepoort? We can see how they evolve in the glass too.

[Shawn Denkler]

we start at 6:30pm and have about three hours

I opened a 55 Fonseca last month as a pop & pour, it was much better in three hours and thought it needed more time since it was so big.

55 Sandeman opened same day pop & pour was mature and light but held for three hours. Couldn't give it any more time - it was all finished.

[Glenn E.]

The tasting is in less than two weeks. I want the ports to show their best.

1955 Fonseca & Niepoort --- decant six hours?

Other 1955s --- decant four hours?

It is winter so they will be stored at about 60 degrees after decanting and before being brought to the tasting lounge.

I wouldn't go longer than 4 hours on any of them, and maybe 1-2 on the ones you expect to be weaker.

Decanting is like adding salt to food. You can always add more salt, but once you've added it you can't take it out. Always err on the side of underdecanting because you can always let it sit in the glass for a while, but once it's had too much time you can't get it back.