For The Love Of Port

Amy opened a pair of these 375ml bottles for the Sammamish Port Club's 2020 Holiday Party on Zoom, and they were funky. She said that she has opened several bottles from the last buying opportunity and they've all been this way. I found that confusing because I have also opened several and none of mine have been funky, so I thought I'd open another to see what's up.

1987 Kopke Colheita
bottled 2013

Color: Medium tawny with some brown overtones. It looks its age or perhaps a little bit older.

Nose: Vitamin pill, some caramel, some reticent dried fruits. There's a strong note of torrefaction throughout.

Palate: Medium full body with an ethereal lightness as well. There is definitely some stankiness in the palate, but it isn't bottle stink. It's something more buttery or perhaps more cheesey. It isn't overwhelming, it's just there. Caramel, some faint cinnamon, and the usual dried fruits (especially dried apricots). Notably there's no butterscotch, which has been a hallmark of this Port in the bottles that I've previously opened.

Score: 92 points. Get rid of the stanky note and it'd be an easy 93.

When I opened the bottle mid-afternoon, there was no stankiness and there was butterscotch. That makes me think that air time does not help this Port, at least not this bottling, and that they should be consumed pop-and-pour. All of my previous bottles have been taken to restaurants for Anniversary celebrations, so they were all served pop-and-pour. Amy typically opens hers so that they can get some air before being consumed, and her's have all been stanky. Ergo, don't give 'em air.

As a general observation of their tawny's, with exceptions of course, I have found that much past 8-10 years in bottle for this producer isn't a good thing. Being 7 years your right on the cusp of those experiences.
I've had this several times from recent bottlings and it has been wonderful.

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:19 pm As a general observation of their tawny's, with exceptions of course, I have found that much past 8-10 years in bottle for this producer isn't a good thing. Being 7 years your right on the cusp of those experiences.
I've had this several times from recent bottlings and it has been wonderful.

Yeah my general rule of thumb for Kopke is that they're at their best in the 5-8 year range, so that's pretty close to your experience as well.

This doesn't feel like a bottle age problem, though. It's something else. I would expect bottle stink to blow off with some air time after opening the bottle, not show up with air time. I've heard people talking about TCA behaving this way before - that a bottle is fine right when opened, but then the TCA sort of develops or gets stronger after a few hours in decanter - but this isn't TCA either because I can smell it and taste it.

I'll just make a note to always drink these pop-and-pour, because they're pretty stellar that way.