For The Love Of Port

Iridescent amber gold-green.
Soaring aromas of orange, tangerine, flowers, maple syrup, and butter pecan. Just the barest hint of VA.
Viscous and rich mouthfeel. Great acidity. More citrus and caramel on the palate. Beautiful balance. Long and rich finish with a characteristic bitterness on the end. Not the concentration of the 1802, but still superb. 97 points.

Addendum: The above note was after a double decant. After a couple extra days of air, the balance has improved and the flavors have become more precise. Now a 98! This bottle was imported by the Rare Wine Company. It had a Barbeito branded cork. I've learned from Ricardo Diogo of Barbeito that this was recorked by his mother in 1989.

Wow! Jealous! I'll be over right away!

Hi Eric!

I have 2 different bottles...no idea about the cork in number one, the second has been tasted, recorked and rebottled recently - what was your bottle like?

https://cdn.ct-static.com/labels/009a8f ... c0212a.jpg

https://cdn.ct-static.com/labels/4729a9 ... 34a811.jpg

Cheers

Andy

It was the first one with the paper label. Same gold capsule.

As far as I know, there are two styles of the paper label, the one on the Andreas's picture being the less common one,
see below:

I bought this wine at auction when first released and tried it then WITHOUT decanting (I was still a newbie). Sadly it was funky and bitter and consequently I ignored all the other Acciaioly madeiras for many years (now they're unaffordable!).

So I emphasise and support the need for significant decanting on the Acciaioly's. Even then, they don't always seem to have the Terrantez characteristics (for me) even after a couple of weeks - I still rank the 1802 as one of the finest 'Buals' around! However with 'long' decanting (months?) the Terrantez notes do become dominant - (Michael R - do you recall how long the 1802 you served me blind had been open?).

Hi Alan - the 1802 you are talking about had been in a decanter for about 5-6 months prior to you tasting it. It did, however, have a shriveled cork that just felt in during transport. Most likely, the cork had been allowing for at least some oxygen exposure for years.

I would also point out that there are Acciaioly bottles around that have undergone multi-months airing and recorking at Vinhos Barbeito in the 1990s (they are easily spotted by the Barbeito wax seal). Clearly, the owners of Barbeito (I think it was in the beginning of transition from Manuela to Ricardo) came to the same conclusion you did.

It would be curious to know if the newly surfaced stenciled bottles Andreas has shown have been aired prior to re-bottling.

Thanks for all the interesting infos around your Acciaiolys!
Will check on airing time etc. of my recently re-engarrafa'd bottle.
Cheers
Andy

I have asked Edwin Vos of Christie's about the stenciled 1832s (AFAIK, Christie's is the main source of these). Here is what he shared:

"The Acciaioly bottles you are referring to have been transferred from their original bottle to a new bottle as the owner was in doubt whether the original glass bottle would hold the new recorking. From experience old bottles can break during the process, the glass in the neck can be quite fragile. As the main importance is to keep the quality of the wine safe he decided to transfer the 1832 to a new bottle and give it a good new cork."

And on my question about airing:
"These bottles are just transferred from their original bottles for recorking purposes. "

@Eric - I believe you have described your bottle as having a metal capsule and Barbeito branded cork inside. Do you have any pictures/recollections of how the top of the capsule looked like? I have seen a number of Barbeito recorked Acciaiolies with wax seals, but never realized the bottles with metal capsules might have been recorked too. It would be interesting to learn how to spot these.

The wax was applied directly over the old capsule (the neck part), at least on my bottle. The cork was branded Barbeito.