For The Love Of Port

I just saw the first offer of the new Quinta do Crasto Honore Very Old Tawny Port - $5,652.50!! (£4250) Ouch! These older Ports have become VERY expensive.

Lets be honest. These super expensive and old ones are priced at a point where a small amount will sell to people with tons of money but most will remain in the care of the company for special occasions. And you get some good publicity for your company as well. Nothing wrong with that mind you. As at some point everything has to be bottled and consumed lest it stops getting "better" and starts getting "worse".

Andy Velebil wrote:As at some point everything has to be bottled and consumed lest it stops getting "better" and starts getting "worse".

You could blend it to make a greater quantity of stuff you can sell for less. There are a good number of other premium old blends selling for less than $5000, e.g. S. Leonardo "60" and "100", Barros 100th Anniversary, Whitwam's Millennium ... But then there are these $5k bottles out there as well, and Crasto chose this route. Before I knew the price I contacted Bartholomew to see if they would be importing this, and the answer was no from them.

Not surprised. Honestly, what surprises me more is that the others like Eric mentions are still relatively inexpensive. Miguel's 50, 60, 90, and 100 are some of the very best Tawny Ports that you can find anywhere, and they're about the same price as a recent 1st Growth Bordeaux.

Compared to other wines, Port and Madeira are still insanely good deals. But yeah, it's sad that we can't afford the top-of-top ancient Tawnies anymore.

One reason I snagged a bottle of the Roncao Muito Velha. Given the way 19th Century wood aged wines are getting priced, I thought it a bargain!

Eric Menchen wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:As at some point everything has to be bottled and consumed lest it stops getting "better" and starts getting "worse".

You could blend it to make a greater quantity of stuff you can sell for less. There are a good number of other premium old blends selling for less than $5000, e.g. S. Leonardo "60" and "100", Barros 100th Anniversary, Whitwam's Millennium ... But then there are these $5k bottles out there as well, and Crasto chose this route. Before I knew the price I contacted Bartholomew to see if they would be importing this, and the answer was no from them.

Because their packaging, without the contents, doesn't cost thousands per bottle

Oh and sadly Broadbent Imports no longer handles Crasto wines/Ports. Crasto switched to Folio

Andy Velebil wrote:Oh and sadly Broadbent Imports no longer handles Crasto wines/Ports. Crasto switched to Folio

When did that happen and why?

Even the top end aged Tawny Ports are increasing in price as people try them and they grow in popularity.

Two years ago Maynard's excellent 40YO was sold in Aldi supermarkets in the UK for £30 per 75cl bottle. Today it is available in the UK for £70.

Andy Velebil wrote: Oh and sadly Broadbent Imports no longer handles Crasto wines/Ports. Crasto switched to Folio

Wow! I hadn't heard that.

For those that are interested, I have a question for the board in the Portuguese wine forum about the new Crasto Honore Douro Red:

Al B. wrote:Even the top end aged Tawny Ports are increasing in price as people try them and they grow in popularity.

Two years ago Maynard's excellent 40YO was sold in Aldi supermarkets in the UK for £30 per 75cl bottle. Today it is available in the UK for £70.

Wow! Even that current price is still incredible for a 40YO. Here in the US they start at around $125 (if you're lucky) and reach as high as $180.

Eric Ifune wrote:One reason I snagged a bottle of the Roncao Muito Velha. Given the way 19th Century wood aged wines are getting priced, I thought it a bargain!

Probably a good move, and one that I probably should have duplicated. I didn't, though, because while I like the 1885 I'm not wowed by it. I almost prefer the DR70 straight up, and I absolutely prefer it once price is factored in.

There was a very limited, very special offer for an S. Leonardo 150YO that I should have just jumped on when I had the chance. But it was a couple thousand dollars and I just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. It was sold out almost instantly, so even the next day was too late to reconsider. (It was sold out in the time it took me to ask for permission to post the offer on FTLOP. I'm not even sure I'd have gotten a bottle if I'd responded immediately to say yes.)

Glenn E. wrote:while I like the 1885 I'm not wowed by it. I almost prefer the DR70 straight up

I preferred the DR70, but loved that 1885 one as well. I tend to like old tawnys best when they are not so concentrated and oxidized.

David Spriggs wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:while I like the 1885 I'm not wowed by it. I almost prefer the DR70 straight up

I preferred the DR70, but loved that 1885 one as well. I tend to like old tawnys best when they are not so concentrated and oxidized.

+1
My TN on the DR:

I don’t think this is officially recorded as an 1885, but known to be of this vintage. This had aromas of molasses and treacle, with a pleasant warmth. This is really intense and concentrated in the mouth. There is lots of acidity too, with flavors of tangerine and orange. 97 points. Others liked this even more than me, but I found the concentration to be too much to score higher.

I've scored a few other younger tawny blends at 98.

Moses Botbol wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:Oh and sadly Broadbent Imports no longer handles Crasto wines/Ports. Crasto switched to Folio

When did that happen and why?

End of last year.

Eric Menchen wrote:My TN on the DR:

I don’t think this is officially recorded as an 1885, but known to be of this vintage. This had aromas of molasses and treacle, with a pleasant warmth. This is really intense and concentrated in the mouth. There is lots of acidity too, with flavors of tangerine and orange. 97 points. Others liked this even more than me, but I found the concentration to be too much to score higher.

I've scored a few other younger tawny blends at 98.

I'd have to check my notes to be sure, but those sound roughly similar. We tasted the DR70, an 80YO, and a 100YO at DR on PHT2 last year. Some people came away thinking that the 100YO was the 1885, but I don't recall them saying that and I didn't put it in my notes, either. Why call it a 100YO if it's actually 130+? So I think the 1885 is different than the 100YO - my guess is that the 100YO is a blend with the 1885 as the mother wine - which would mean that my only encounter with the straight 1885 was on the PHT in 2014.

And now that I've written all of that, I may actually have scored them the same. My memory of 2014 was that I gave the 1885 97 points, but my memory of PHT2 last year was that the last 3 Ports received 97, 98, and 99 points. So I'll have to check my notes tonight!

If my memory was correct, we had two 100+ year old blends from cask. The 1885 was in a separate cask and the taste we had was from bottle. The ancient wines were coming fast and furious towards the end and it was easy to loose track!

Eric Ifune wrote:If my memory was correct, we had two 100+ year old blends from cask. The 1885 was in a separate cask and the taste we had was from bottle. The ancient wines were coming fast and furious towards the end and it was easy to loose track!

I only have a 70, 80, 50 White, and 100 in my notes. I gave them 97-98, 98, 95, and 99 points respectively. All were from cask IIRC. If you also got to taste the 1885 from bottle, it was in secret!

In my notes from the PHT in 2014 I gave the 1885 99-100 points, so I was completely mis-remembering it. Re-reading the note brings back memories, though. I suspect it "suffered" from having followed my first experience with Mourao and the back-to-back 100-pointers we tasted there. If the 1885 had come before Mourao, I'd have probably given it 100 points straight up. It just couldn't quite match the memory from the days before, so "only" got 99-100.

We had multiple 100+ YO tastes at Brunheda, including the 120+ from the back corner of the room and the 100+ white/red blend from the small barrel in front. Also an 80, an 80 white, and a 100 white from bottle on the patio. That was a good stop.

Glenn E. wrote:That was a good stop.

There were so many great stops!

Ok, broke out my notes.
70 year old from cask 98+. 80 year old from cask 98, I liked the 70 more. 50 White 95. And the Muito Velho from 1885. It was in bottle, bottled earlier in the year. It was opened upstairs after we left the cellar. People were figuring out what to purchase at the time, so you might have not seen it. I gave it 99.

Eric Ifune wrote:Ok, broke out my notes.
70 year old from cask 98+. 80 year old from cask 98, I liked the 70 more.

I loved the 70! I ended up buying 2 of the bottled 70 - even though it's beyond my typical cost for a bottle of Port.