For The Love Of Port

Looking in my cellar, I have bottles from more than 20 different producers. Looking at the seal caps, it seems only one producer makes an attempt to orient the text on the cap so that is readable when the bottle is in the rack label up. Without looking at any bottles, which producer is it?

Note that for some producers a random bottle here and there has the seal so oriented, but others do not. Of course you might come up with a valid answer I don't own, but I can rule out 20+. I won't say more for the moment--I have a hint or two to save.

I'm going to guess Quinta do Noval... theirs seem to be pretty regular in my collection at least!

Eric,

You are talking about capsules right?

This thread scores 11 out of 10 for geekyness - I like it!

I will guess Taylor Fladgate.

Derek

I might as well guess Warre, since it's the only one I could now go check. I don't have enough by others to make a useful sample.

I am talking about the capsules, and Taylor and Warre's are definitely out, and I'm about 99% sure I checked the Noval and it is out as well. Yes, this is truly geeky. I'm still withholding my first good hint.

Portal?

Quinta do Vesuvio?

Not Vesuvio, confirmed not Noval. I've purchased some Portal in the recent offering, but I don't possess the bottles, so I can't say for sure that this isn't a correct answer. Check your cellar Derek.

Now this could just be a coincidence, but I have four different bottles from this producer from three different years, and they all have "upright" seals. I also have two more bottles of different brands that this producer bottled, and they also have the upright seals, so I think it is more than just chance orientations.

I would be interested to find out if it's by chance or planned. I say that as if you see how capsules come packaged and since they are just dropped into the corking/capsule machine in a big stack, then getting the automated label applier to put the label on the right way as everything spins down a bottling line, I'd guess it was just random luck. But you never know.

Eric Menchen wrote:...I have four different bottles from this producer from three different years, and they all have "upright" seals....

By "upright" do you mean the front label is on top when the capsule is readable?


BTW, 4 bottles is a pitifully small sample. This may be a "Granfalloon" as Kurt Vonnegut defines it. (Looks like there is some connection but is just coincidence.) I would like to see hundreds or thousands of bottles (in my cellar) before I would begin making assertions. "In my cellar" is the operative factor, so you all need to start moving your bottles this way, really soon.

Peter W. Meek wrote:

Eric Menchen wrote:...I have four different bottles from this producer from three different years, and they all have "upright" seals....

By "upright" do you mean the front label is on top when the capsule is readable?

Yes. I really don't think it is a coincidence. Maybe if the producer shows up on this forum some time, he can tell us.
p.s. It is six bottles, not four. That was in my first hint.

Kopke?

Cruz

Delaforce?

I don't own any Cruz, but I'll say nope on Delaforce and Kopke, and probably not for Cruz. Here's another hint that should pretty much give it away:

Neipoort.

The only bottling line that I have ever seen in operation and I didn't think to guess it

Those are some mighty fine Niepoorts, too!

Since my refrigerators store front-and-back the front bottles normally point into the fridge, so I had to re-arrange things to take this picture but here's more evidence to support your theory!



The top left 1997 is a little bit off, but the rest of them are very straight!

Cruz was a joke :) Niepoort is quite artisanal, maybe that's why it's like that. An employee can pay attention to deposit the seal that way as for other larger companies, the whole process of bottling is fully automated.

Here is a couple photos I took :

http://www.frederickblais.com/pics/disp ... fullsize=1
http://www.frederickblais.com/pics/disp ... m=3&pos=15

Glenn E. wrote:Those are some mighty fine Niepoorts, too!

I hope so. I need to get some 2003, if only to support my hypothesis that this is intentional
And of course the bottom left bottle is Broadbent, produced by Neipoort. And while Niepoort didn't make the Quinta do Passadouro, they did bottle it.