1934 Dalva Colheita Port

[Al B.]

Bottled 1973. Deep brown in colour, slightly green on the rim. A huge nose, full of sweet and typically maderised fruit and fudge, but slightly dirty. Thick in texturee, very syrupy. Harsh and slightly soapy in the mouth with lots of rosemary and lemons. The aftertaste is medicinal and harsh, but of reasonable length. 83/100. Drunk 11 Feb 2010 after 12 hours decanting.

[Roy Hersh]

Now that is an interesting bottle. How often do you find such an old Colheita which has spent nearly equal time in wood as in bottle? Sorry it did not show better, but what a fantastic experience, nonetheless. Was this from an auction lotte ... curious ... as to the provenance, if you know anything about its previous life?

[Al B.]

The bottle came from a house in Suffolk, being cleared after the death of the owner. There were a small number of wine bottles, including this one. All the wines were sourced from a now-defunct British wine merchant, Augustus Barnett, who seems to have stocked a reasonable range of Dalva ports. My guess would be that the former owner may, at one time, have been connected with Augustus Barnett.

[Roy Hersh]

Very cool thanks for the history of the bottle Alex! It always amazes me that Constantino ... virtually the predecessor of Quinta do Crasto, was able to produce such lovely old Ports and especially Colheitas, yet Crasto has never made one thus far. Hopefully, that will be changing soon.