For The Love Of Port

I need recommendations of the 1966 Ports. Reasonably priced, good Colheitas or Vintage Ports. Thank you.

1966 was an excellent year for VPs, often overlooked since falling between the better-known '63s and'70s. I expect there will be a fair number of bottles of '66 opened next year, of course. The last significant number of '66s I had was a couple of years ago at one of Chris Doty's visits to London where we opened around a dozen of them; All of the main houses are usually good (though I think we had a duff Taylor that night), personally I particularly like F66 and W66, but some of the lesser houses show well that year as well, Noval and Offley come to mind. As with all bottles of this age, provenance/storage will likely be the biggest factor in the quality of the wine.

Kopke's 1966 Colheita is superb if you can find it. Last bottled in about 2006, as I recall, but if there's any left in cask it seems like next year would be a good time to bottle it.

For deals, look for '66 Croft or '66 Sandeman; both great ports to appease your wallet. Warres would be good one on lesser expensive side.

If you want to splurge take your pick from the big shippers; Grahams, Dow, Fonseca, Taylor... 1966 is a great vintage and many in-the-know will say it is better than 1963.

Glenn E. wrote:Kopke's 1966 Colheita is superb if you can find it. Last bottled in about 2006, as I recall, but if there's any left in cask it seems like next year would be a good time to bottle it.

It is still available, and i think from more recent bottling. I have 2 in our store, i will check the bottling date.

I have only had two bottles of Croft 1966 and the last is in the cellar for next year. As stated above, price to quality/age is fair wit this one.

Many thanks everyone for your recommendations and suggestions, it is nice to know that there is a quite nice selection out there where to choose from. I just realised that Kopke Colheita 1966 is available from an online store i have used before so i just might start from there.

Money aside, there is nothing from '66 that competes with the Quinta do Noval Nacional. Nothing. Imo, of course!

Some bargains: Moreira Colheita was $25 just a few years ago.

Seriously though, the Warre is a beauty, Gould Campbell is reasonably priced when available and the Ferreira and Sandeman are under-priced.

Top end: Fonseca is atop the pyramid of affordable VP66. Taylor is wonderful, I am a huge fan of the Dow's 1966 and Graham's is also very solid. No surprise with these four. Outside of some bottle variation with nearly 50 year old bottlings, these four are all a very safe bet.

Even more tips! Thank you, Roy.

I brought up a '66 Grahams for New Years Eve if hat's any indication on a good one to pick...