Memorial Day Weekend Ports?

[Roy Hersh]

Last night a 1955 Fonseca. Tonight I have a 1983 Cockburn in decanter (smelled and tasted fine when first put in decanter) as I refuse to dump these on others and will keep opening them until I find a good one. Tomorrow will be a 1970 Fonseca or Taylor or Dow for some company coming for BBQ Baby Back ribs. Monday I have yet to decide. Maybe something younger like a 1992 Niepoort which I keep wanting to visit.

What about you? You must have something interesting lined up, right?

I will toast to Kim who was our 1500th Forum member, who signed up yesterday. It has been a good week as we also passed 30,000 posts. Thank you all!

[Glenn E.]

I have a 1985 Smith Woodhouse in the queue for Monday for the May Virtual Tasting. I also have a 1985 Sandeman that looks like it might be heat damaged (the cork is bulging and there are signs of seepage) so I may open that one on Sunday.

I'm having fun doing inventory because I just received my new Eurocave 283. I plan to use that for long term storage and keep my old Danby 55 for bottles that I intend to open relatively soon. Of course as slowly as I drink, "relatively soon" could be a year from now.

[Jeffrey Karp]

I recently picked up half a case or so of Cockburn '63. It was inexpensive and although the Cockurn is one of the lesser Ports of the 1963 vintage, I happen to enjoy its subtle, sometimes delicate yet always consistent showing.

It has yet to disappoint as my expectations are commensurate with an 88 point Port (which is what I've always scored it since I first tried it a few years back). Its showing is consistent with its lean fruit and high spirit that evolves and picks up both weight and color after about 2-3 hours in the decanter. I always find myself enjoying the transformation and in the end, the Port. I've read a tasting review somewhere (maybe here?) where the taster noted candied cherries and wood tones, I concur. Its an easy '63 to drink without too much muss or fuss, and a lot less dollars spent per bottle. It's the only no pressure 63 I've found, meaning if I did open an "off" bottle, I'm not out a few hundred bucks as I would be with most other '63s.

In addition, I may open a our last bottle of '66 Fonseca this weekend. I noticed that it's fill was only top shoulder and it may be better to drink sooner than later. It's a British bottling with a hard plastic cap. The last time I tried to open a '66 Fonseca, it's sister bottle, about 4 years ago, I ended up in the emergency room all bloodied from that stupid hard plastic cap that I tried to open with an exacto-knife! The knife slipped and went deep into the nail bed of my thumb and taking 3/4 of the nail off and gouging the nailbed in the process. It was nasty and required many stiches and painkillers. Needless to say that Laura freaks out when I pull out the remaining '66 Fonseca from the vinotemp! We'll see. I'll post it if we open.

I am somewhat concerned about the fill, although there are no signs of seepage and I recall that when I finally did get the injury-inflicting bottle opened, the Port seemed very young and somewhat unwilling to open. Although I must admit in all candor that at that time I was not yet a disciple of Roy's decanting method as I am today.

I hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day Port and please, take a momement to remember what Memorial Day is really all about!

Best Regards!

[Roy Hersh]

Jeff,

Let me please suggest that the easiest way that I have found to remove the %^&*UI(O)P_{ platicized-rubber capsules that one finds on many 1966 bottlings, is to use a very small screwdriver and tap hammer. It works and is much safer. I once tried with an exacto knife too and also a kitchen knife and many other implements and devices. Trust me!

[Andy Velebil]

Two words....Port Tongs.

Tongs works great on these bottles. Anyone know the history behind those caps? I've only seen them on the 1966 and 1967 VP's. Seems like they fell out of fashion after that...thank goodness as those caps suck to try and remove.

[Richard Henderson]

It seems rather pedestrian next to a 63 VP but we have enjoyed a 10 YO NV Royal Oporto colheita. A very nice tawny style port with much brown sugar candied cherry notes. Also a great buy at about $30.

[Jeffrey Karp]

It seems rather pedestrian next to a 63 VP but we have enjoyed a 10 YO NV Royal Oporto colheita. A very nice tawny style port with much brown sugar candied cherry notes. Also a great buy at about $30.

Hi Richard,

A 10 YO Royal Oporto colheita *pedestrian*? No way! I can't think of any port per se that I would ever call pedestrian, except perhaps for the offerings from Hiram Walker or Christian Brothers, but we all know full well that whatever the moniker "ruby or tawny" those so-called ports are referred to as, they are certainly not Ports!

Actually, fron your tasting note, your's sounded quite yummy!

Best regards,

[Glenn E.]

we have enjoyed a 10 YO NV Royal Oporto colheita.

Pardon the potentially silly question, but doesn't "colheita" by definition have a vintage?

[Andy Velebil]

I think Richard made a typo....RIchard I'm sure you mean "Tawny" not Colheita.

[Richard Henderson]

I did make an error there. I was buying some of the 77 and 80 Royal Oporto colheita and this 10 yo and 20 yo old tawny were placed on the shelf next to the colheita in similar packaging. I bought all that the store had of the RO tawny and colheita at a a closeout discount. The colheita and tawny packaging look similar. What I opened was the 10yo tawny. I think a colheita is froma a particular vintage year. Is a colheita always a tawny?

I have had the RO colheitas and the styles are very similar to the NV tawny.

[Glenn E.]

Ah okay, that makes sense.

The bottles do look similar. They're pretty cool bottles, too! I've had the 1977 RO Colheita and it was enjoyable, though I don't like it nearly as much as I like the 1977 Porto Rocha Colheita. I don't remember whether or not I've had the RO 10-yr old Tawny, but I've seen the bottle on the shelf before.

And yes, Colheita is a tawny-style Port. It is the Portugese word for "crop" or "harvest" so it does essentially mean "vintage" in this context. But I'm still new enough to all of this that you confused me there for a moment.

[Richard Henderson]

I stay confused when I get away from ruby port. Even there the LBV's, crusteds etc can get very detailed. I rely on Roy and Andy to keep me straight on such minutiae.

On a lot of port topics I stay confused.

I really don't know a whole lot about tawnies and colheitas and I was surprised to see that they were the favorites of about half the folks who participated in a poll on this topic.

[Andy Velebil]

Richard dont feel bad. When I was just getting into Ports I was confused to. There are so many names that are similar, or even the same, yet they are totally different things. Add in all the regulation changes that have happened over the years, it's hard to keep them all straight.

[Roy Hersh]

Amen to that!