1970 Kopke Vintage Port

[Tom Archer]

Both Mayson and Broadbent have commended this one as Kopke's finest vintage. A bottle from a case bought about 18 months ago.

My internet link has been down for most of the week, so here's the full report:

For it's age, the cork proved incredibly tight - I was about to give up and try a levered type, when the corkscrew suddenly stripped the centre out of the cork.

Managed to jiggle the rest out with an ah so - the first time I've had a good result with one of these on a VP bottle.

Decanted reasonably cleanly, with a fair amount of lumpy sediment.

At first sip, it had the attributes of a fine wine in significant decline, but as time progressed, those negative elements faded into the background.

A very caramelised, slightly nutty taste, with attributes that reminded me both of both Warre '70 and Gonzalez Byass of the same year. Colour is also similar to the Warre - a noble hue, but browning noticeably.

On the palate, a sharp edge and spiritous nose took a long time to settle down, only to be replaced by a slightly medicinal overtone.

Overall, though, this has been quality drinking.

To score:

For immediate gratification, this is better than the median. It was probably in the top quartile a few years ago, but has now passed it's peak.

I therefore give it a 7

Where's it going?

This is tricky, as it has the body to last, but seems to be in decline. A point off, a 6

So my score is:

7-6

Note to me: One a year

Tom

[Roy Hersh]

Tom,

Thanks for the TN. I have consumed quite alot of Kopke Ports over the years, the majority of which have been young and old Colheitas. Rarely have I been too impressed with the Kopke VPs except the 1985. I know that when Suckling wrote his book he had given the '70 some very low score, but then again ... that was a long time ago at this point. Anyway, the good news is that the Kopke 2000, 2003 and 2004 Vintage Ports are very sound and it looks like there is promise for good things to come in the future. However, it is unknown how the new owners will handle the sourcing of grapes and winemaking, now that the Barros family is out of the picture.

[Alan Gardner]

Tasted March 25, 2009. Decanted about 10 hours earlier (but returned to bottle for transportation).

Amazingly youthful appearance, deep ruby showing hardly any browning.
HOWEVER immediate alcohol on the nose, with a strong plum bouquet - very deep fruit with just a hint of mushroom behind.
The taste much less impressive. Mostly cherry cough syrup followed immediately by strong alcohol leading to an almost grappa-like finish. Would have guessed no earlier than 90's from a lesser vintage - doesn't show the 70 harmony at all. Just a total mismatch between label, appearance and taste.

[Glenn E.]

Why is Tom suddenly showing up as a Guest?

[Tom Archer]

A little glitch that has been remarked on before..

..I also managed to join the forum over five years before Roy; which is quite clever really

Tom

[Roy Hersh]

Actually, I thought you created FTLOP Tom! Yeah, it was a year or so ago that Stewart tried to fix that crazy happening and I don't know the technical reason he was unable to fix it.

I just remembered that I had this particular VP in Brooklyn NY, at Jay F's home along with Al B. and Julian, and a handful of other budding Port enthusiasts. It was at a 1970 horizontal tasting and the Kopke showed nicely, not great, but it was a solid bottle.

One of the surprise producer's from that vintage for me has been Feist and not from the aforementioned tasting, but a friend in NY who blind tasted me on it to see what I'd think. I nailed the vintage but was way off on producer, guessing Graham's at the time. A very solid bottling if you ever come across it.

[Symon B]

went through 2cs over 5 years lovely port best kopke iv had only had 2 others full deep ruby pleasant good ballence not great but nearly 9.3
none left and want some more super value not a bad bottle in the 24 dificult to get hold of but well worth it

[Moses Botbol]

I've had this vintage once and thought it was really good and suprised us all. Just like Offley, under the radar house at least in America.

[Andy Velebil]

I've only had the 1970 Kopke Quinta Sao Luiz SQVP and it was a wonderful bottle....made even more memorable drinking it on the deck at the Quinta last summer with a very beautiful and charming hostess.