For The Love Of Port

I have never had a Martinez VP and I have the opportunity to purchase this one for $50.00 (US) and have not been able to locate any recent notes to see how it is drinking now (or worth buying). Can anyone help? Is this one over the hill, or still approachable?

Thanks

Andy

Martinez make perfectly respectable ports and 1967 was one of those odd years where the wines made were very variable.

The only tasting note I have found on this particular wine is from Suckling, who tasted it in 1989 and rated it very well (93/100). His comments at the time were very complimentary and he even said that it would improve with age.

Sounds like at that price it would be a shame to miss out.

Alex

Alex,

Thanks for the information, I ordered 2. For that price figured I couldn't go wrong. I also got a 1974 Quinta do Noval Colheita for my up coming birthday since I could not locate a 1973 port here in the states. Bad news is I got to wait until April to try the Noval

I got the bottles the other day and had a question that one of Roy's recent posts was about. The bottles have a rather thick and perfectly round wax capsule on the top, however there is no IVP seal. Am I correct to assume the label probably fell off?

The bottles have a rather large amount of old dirt residue still stuck to the bottle that is in-line with the white paint splash. I assume these were stored in a cave by the dirt residue. By shining a light I can read part of the cork; it says "Martinez Vintage 196_" (I can't see the last number). The corks are in great shape with absolutly no signs of of any leakage or seepage. Fills are mid-neck. I can also see that there is a large amount of sediment in the bottle. I've included a link with a few pictures below.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cofidis2/ ... b6&.src=ph

Also, there is no warning label that is on every bottle of alcohol sold in the US. Am i correct to assume that these bottles came straight from Europe through the gray market?

Andy,

From reading the labels in the pictures, I believe that you are right in your guess that these bottles were once (perhaps recently, but probably not given the lack of alcohol warning label) sourced from the UK.

It was clearly a UK bottling, by the IECWS, hence the lack of the IVP seal - if they were applying them at that time. I have UK bottled ports from '63 and '66 which also lack the seal. i don't think is a problem.

Some of those bottles of mine also have the large round wax seal over the top of the cork. I don't know where or why this wax seal came from as - to my mind - it looks more recent than the cork or bottle. I have bottles from the same vintage with capsules where the capsule looks battered and dented while I also have bottles with perfectly pristine, large, round wax seals. I find it hard to believe that these wax seals would have stayed in such good condition for 40 years if similar bottles with capsules look battered. The only bottle I have ever had with a wax seal tasted great so maybe the condition of the seal is just a reflection of the fact that the bottles have been really well looked after.

I think you have managed to track down a real bargain and look forward to reading your notes when you open a bottle.

Alex