PORT VINTAGES · Sten Ivarsson, a Swedish collector of Port has bought much in Sweden, Denmark and...

PORT VINTAGES

The Chronicle of Vintage Ports,

from the Beginning

Addendum Including additions and errata

This version: 20:00 on 26 October 2020

J. D. A. Wiseman

Page 1

Addendum: Overview Port Vintages, J. D. A. Wiseman, was published in October 2018. It is a reference book of almost four hundred thousand words, and alas it is inevitable that a work of this scale will have some imperfections.

On page ii the Preface to Port Vintages said:

Errors surely remain. Those outside quotations are mine; those inside quotations might also be mine, but at least sometimes are of whoever is quoted.

It is intended to list errata and additions at www.PortVintages.com.

And there are omissions. In April 2012 friends and I drank 1974 Delaforce Quinta da Côrte, and in July 2012 we drank Martinez 1948 at the Portuguese embassy in London: their omission from the book was just carelessness. Mea culpa: I apologise. Friends, but not I, drank Graham 1933; but it was me who failed to spot the tasting note. But no trace of Gonzalez Byass 1948 was seen until after the book was printed: not a failure of administration; arguably a failure of research.

This Addendum is intended to make useful additions and correct the omissions. Owners of the book, for this purpose including librarians, are asked to print the high-resolution version of this document onto long-lasting acid-free paper and keep it in the book. Available from www.jdawiseman.com/PortVintages/Port_Vintages_Addendum.html are both that and a smaller file for screen reading. The PDFs might also be somewhere on www.PortVintages.com.

The page numbers of the body of Port Vintages are in Arabic numerals: 1, 2, …, 635). The page numbers of its front matter are in lower-case Roman: i, ii, …, vi. The Addendum’s page numbers are underlined: 1, 2, …, 42.

This version of the Addendum was printed to PDF at 20:00 on 26 October 2020. If you have material which could be in a later version, please send it to the author (contact information at www.jdawiseman.com/author.html). Readers do want details, so please include pictures, provenance, cost, dates, tasting notes, biographies of notable drinkers, etc. Mae West: “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful”. And Mark Twain: “too much good whiskey is barely enough” (he lived before air-conditioning in a climate too hot for Vintage Port, so can be forgiven the error).

As said in the book, errors surely remain. All errors outside quotations are mine, and perhaps some inside.

Sources Much came from information sent by magnificent readers — thank you.

Sten Ivarsson, a Swedish collector of Port has bought much in Sweden, Denmark and at European auctions, is one of few people to have read Port Vintages cover-to-cover three times. He fell in love with Port when he started his first wine club in 1976. In 1982 he became a member of the Copenhagen Port Wine Club, in and in 1993 he was one of the founders of the Wine Society 18%, which is a Port and Madeira Club in Malmö. His family also love Port, including his two daughters, and (within two years of meeting them) their fiancés Jörgen Bergengrip and Stefan Sällberg. When Sten retired in 2007 they persuaded him to document the Ports he has drunk, and in 2011 these three men started www.VintagePort.se. Sten also sent many pictures of bottles from his collection. Some of the pictures are reproduced here; some were not sufficient resolution, perhaps because he loves Port more than taking pictures.

Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle, www.WineLabelCircle.org, sent pictures and much knowledgable detail of ceramic and metal bin labels. He asks that those interested in such wine labels be encouraged to join the Wine Label Circle.

Both pictures by and by kind permission of Darrel Rosander. Left: bin label “Port 1812”, height 83.3mm; width 142.8mm; thickness 6.9mm; hole

diameter 11.5mm; weight 93.5g. Right: a worn plated wine-decanter label “Port Vintage 1850 Allnutt”, height 19.5mm / 24.5mm; width 48mm; weight 5.9g.

And, as with the book itself, proof-reading praise to Phil Wakely.

Page 2

Addendum: Port

Added Ports The Ports in this Addendum that are missing from Port Vintages are the following, with page numbers underlined.

Butler Nephew: 1925 p4; 1965 p4; 1966 p4.

Cockburn: unlikely 1911 p5; 1916 p5; 1922 p6; 1938 p7; 1939 p7; 1940 p6; 1952 p6; 1957 p6; 1965 p6; 1968 p6; 1971 p7; 1978 p6; 1982 p6; 1982 Eira Velha p7.

Croft: 1914, but if Roêda then not new p8.

Delaforce: possible 1957 p9; 1974 Quinta da Corte p9.

Dow: 1915 p10; 1942 p10; 1972 Bomfim p10.

Ferreira: 1962 p11; 1963 Vesuvio p11.

Feuerheerd: 1922 Zimbro p12 ; 1924 Rosa p12; 1927 Rosa p12; perhaps 1929 Rosa p12; perhaps 1947 p12.

Fonseca: 1906 George’s Panascal p13; perhaps 1925 Guimaraens Quinta da Terra Feita p13; 1944 Guimaraens p13; 1946 Guimaraens p13; 1947 Guimaraens p14; 1999 Panascal p14.

Gonzalez Byass: 1947 p15; 1948 p16.

Gould Campbell: 1934 p16; perhaps 1978 p16.

Graham: 1933 p17; 1942 Malvedos p17; perhaps 1943 p17.

Kopke: 1991 Quinta São Luiz p19; 1992 Quinta São Luiz p19; 2001 Quinta São Luiz p19; 2009 Quinta São Luiz p19; 2010 Quinta São Luiz p19.

Krohn: perhaps 1917 p19.

Martinez: perhaps 1947 p21 1948 p21; 1995 Eira Velha p22; 1997 Eira Velha p22; 2000 Eira Velha p22.

Niepoort: unofficially 1979 p23.

Noval: 1979 Nacional p25; 1999 Quinta do Marco p25.

Quarles Harris: 1931 p26.

Ramos Pinto: 1947 p27; 1977 p27; 1984 p27.

Rebello Valente: 1943 p28.

Royal Oporto and variations: 1900 Sibio p29; 1917 Hooper p29; 1918 Hooper p29; 1922 Hooper p29; 1924 Hooper p29; 1929 Hooper p29; 1931 Hooper p29; 1935 Guedes p30; 1941 Corval p30; 1941 Hooper p29; 1951 Hooper p29; perhaps 1952 p29; 1954 Royal Oporto p30; 1955 Royal Oporto p31; 1955 Sibio p31; 1957 Hooper p31; 1958 Hooper p31; 1960 Hooper p30; 1963 Carvalhas p31; 1963 Corval p30; 1963 Hooper p32; 1963 Sibio p31; 1970 Hooper p30; 1970 Sibio p31; 1977 Corval p30; 1977 Hooper p30; 1978 Guedes p30; 1978 Hooper p32; 1979 Hooper p32; 1983 Guedes p30; 1985 Sibio p31; 1997 Hooper p32; 1998 Carvalhas p31; 2001 Hooper p32; 2003 Carvalhas p31; 2004 Hooper p32; 2005 Carvalhas p31; 2005 Hooper p32; 2007 Carvalhas p31; 2007 Hooper p32; 2008 Real Cia Velha p32; 2009 Real Cia Velha p32; 2012 Carvalhas p31; 2012 Real Cia Velha p32; 2013 Real Cia Velha p32; 2015 Carvalhas p31.

Sandeman: 1999 p33.

Smith Woodhouse: 1982 p33.

Taylor: perhaps 1925 Guimaraens Quinta da Terra Feita p13; 1957 Vargellas p34; 1998 Vargellas p35.

Warre: 1944 p35; 1962 p35.

Other Shippers: Constantino 1945 p36; Constantino 1950 p36; Constantino 1958 p36; Constantino 1966 p36.

Added Bottlers Additions to the index of Bottlers on pages 624–631.

British Transport Hotels: W1963 p35.

Chesters Brewery: Cr1914 p8.

Corney & Barrow: T1963 p34.

Crisp, Edward: G1963 p40.

Grants of St James’s: G1963 p18; N1955 p24.

Justerini & Brooks: N1934 p24.

Laing, E. M.: G1933 p17.

Loeb, O. W.: N1934 p24.

Pease, T., & Son: T1896 p34.

Peatling & Cawdron: GC1966 p16.

Rayne: Ck1878 p5; Cr1885 p8; S18?? p33.

Sandeman, David: T1948 p34.

Port Vintages: Addendum of 20:00 on 26 October 2020

Page 3

Burmester

1934 Burmester Produced and sold, likely small quantity From VintagePort.se: Burmester 1934 was tasted on 17 January 2019 in Malmö by

the Wine Society 18%. Colour: “tawny with an olive green quite nice edge.” Bouquet: “some ether, old hospital but also spiciness, pharmacy and brandy in the nose.” Taste: “medium body. Mature and peaking and maybe a little old indeed, but balanced with some old elegant acidity. Tasty and easy to drink and enjoy with a lingered quite exotic finish. This wine had some Colheita character so even if the bottle said vintage we are not sure. Score: 16.5.”

Image by and by permission of Sten Ivarsson.


Page 4

Butler Nephew

1925 Butler Nephew ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1925 Butler Nephew.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures, alas not of reproducible quality, of “Vintage 1925” Butler Nephew.

1963 Butler Nephew ≈ Produced, perhaps sold VintagePort.se reports one tasting of Butler Nephew 1963, on

17 January 2019. Colour: “Very mature yellow, almost tawny in colour.” Bouquet: “Spiciness with ginger, vanilla, cinnamon and much more in the nose.” Taste: “Lovely body. Mature and peaking – absolutely on the top. Balanced and very complex port. Very tasty with lots of different tastes such as ginger, cinnamon, vanilla and so on. A seductive, elegant and very long finish. Astonishing port indeed!” Score: 17.40.

1965 Butler Nephew ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1965 Butler Nephew.]

WineBid.com, auction ending 26 May 2019, lot 7038737, comprised one bottle of “1965 Butler, Nephew & Co. Vinho do Porto”, “Removed from a subterranean wine cellar; Purchased upon release; Consignor is original owner”. Sold at $135.

1966 Butler Nephew Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1966 Butler Nephew.]

Sylvie’s Wine Auctions of Antwerp has sold Butler Nephew 1966 multiple times. In December 2017, lot 3054 a dozen bottles hammered at 720 ( 864 with commission); in the same auction lot 3055 was a dozen at 520 ( 624); in June 2018 lot 2590 was a dozen at 800 ( 960); in October 2018 lot 2140 was a dozen at 900 ( 1080); and in May 2019 lot 1957 was eleven at 770 ( 924).

Pictures by, and by kind permission of, Sylvie’s Wine Auctions of Antwerp.

Left picture Sten Ivarsson. Right picture by,

and by kind permission of, WineBid.com.


Page 5

Cockburn For brevity, the Cockburn section is not in strict vintage order.

1878 Cockburn Produced and sold [Adding new bottler, Rayne.]

Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent a picture of a bin label saying “Cockburn’s Port 1878 Rayne Binned 1892”: height 133.5mm; width 134.4mm; thickness 9.3mm; hole diameter 11.5mm; weight 233.4g.

… from a set of 29 labels. Most are marked MACINTYR on the edge, who was probably the label retailer, not located in London directories. Last binned date is 1896. They were probably made soon after 1896.

1908 Cockburn Produced and sold 1912 Cockburn Produced and sold 1917 Cockburn Produced (upgrade from “Probably”) 1920 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1922 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1924 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1927 Cockburn Produced and sold

Sten Ivarsson sent a low-resolution picture of a document in the Cockburn lodge, dated 29/1/36, and entitled “Port Vintages.” — for which reason alone surely worthy of careful study!

1908 and 1912 are marked “fine vintages”:

1908. - Showed breed & fine vintage flavour. Rather drier finish than 1912.

1912. - Good colour & body perhaps more than any since 1896. Fine vintage flavour and more fruity than 1908.

1917. - Inclined to be a little hard & lacking in flavour

1920, 1922, and 1924 are marked “not ship them ourselves”:

1920. - A softer wine than 1917 with more flavour and breed. Very useful light Vintage.

1922. - We were rather disappointed with the wines of this year but I believe some shippers have quite a high opinion of them.

1924. - A wine of fair quality not much body rather green.

1927. - Breed and flavour but not a great deal of body & colour. Coming round quickly like all these younger wines.

1911 Cockburn ? Unlikely [Possible sighting of a 1911 Cockburn.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle with a hand-written neck tag saying “Cockburn 1911”, which was bought at an auction in Demark.

1916 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners [Possible sighting of a 1916 Cockburn.]

Sten Ivarsson bought from a Dutch wine shop a Burgundy bottle with a red capsule and an orange label, the latter saying “1916 Vintage Port”, “Cockburn, Smithes & Co”, “Oporto & London”. The shop said that the bottle had been bought from Jorge Pérez y Guillermo, who had sold it soon after his divorce from Princess Christina of the Netherlands.

Picture by and by kind permission of Darrel Rosander.

Picture by and by kind permission of Sten Ivarsson.


Page 6

1917 Cockburn Produced (upgrade from “Probably”) 1922 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1931 Cockburn Produced but little sold 1933 Cockburn Produced but little sold 1934 Cockburn Likely made for partners 1940 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1945 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1952 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1957 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1965 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1968 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1969 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1978 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners 1982 Cockburn ≈ Likely made for partners

[Adding 1940, 1952, 1957, 1968, 1978, and 1982 Cockburn. Further evidence of 1917, 1931, 1933, 1934, and 1945.]

Dominic Symington sent a

list of non-declared CKB wines. We have no record as to whether some were sold or not … not very helpful.

This was taken from their cellar stock ledger. The other pages in the book are their normal stock records of all wines, cask & bottle. These bottles were not in the official stocks lists of the company.

So Cockburn made this document before its sale to the Symingtons.

Most years are labelled “Rsv” = Reserve. These could well be made to Vintage standard, as best the grapes allowed, but were not declared as such. But for 1931 there are both “Rsv” and “V”: was some not declared and some declared — in which case why listed under “Off Vintages”?

Mysteriously, 1950 is “@@.RT”; 1952 is “TDO”; 1961 is “BL”.

On 23 September 2019 a bottle of the 1940 Reserve was drunk at Quinta dos Canais, having been liberated from the Cockburn cellar by Dominic Symington (for which, again, thanks).

JDAW: Light; menthol; caramel late; very burnt. Lighter than good.

AHB: Ck40 (pop-and-pour). Very light colour, russet brown; 30% opaque. Beautiful mature nose, toffee and gentle orange oil. Gentle and smooth on the palate, some dry edges to the fruit, rounded and quite full. Fully mature but still with generous levels of fruit, hints of leather and mint; sweet but with lovely balancing acidity. Terrific complexity. Lovely red currant and soft aniseed. Lingering and delicious. 94/100.

Pictures by and by kind permission of Sten Ivarsson.

But Cockburn’s official unofficial list (page 6) doesn’t include the 1938 or 1939 seen in the cellar. This project was about the seeking of truth; perhaps it was careless to assume that there was a truth that could be sought.

Picture by, and by kind permission of, Dominic Symington.


Page 7

1938 Cockburn ≈ Produced, but not sold 1939 Cockburn ≈ Produced, but not sold 1971 Cockburn ≈ Produced, but not sold

[Adding 1938, 1939, 1971 Cockburn.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures from the Cockburn lodge, including 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1971.

1982 Cockburn Eira Velha Produced, but not sold [Adding 1982 Cockburn Eira Velha.]

Sylvie’s Wine Auctions of Antwerp, in March 2018, lot 2110 comprised five bottles: Cockburn Quinta da Eira Velha Vintage Port 1982; Morgan 1982; Fonseca Guimaraens 1982; “Daural 1982” (as written by the auctioneer); and Dow 1983. Hammered at 280; with commission 336.

1983 Cockburn Produced and sold Corti Brothers Fine Wines, of Sacremento California, from the catalogue dated Spring

1987:

A Classic 1983 Cockburn 1983 Vintage

The port firm of Cockburn has always been a parsimonious declarer of vintages. In some instances they have also gone against the current in declaring vintages, a perogative the market looks at askance. Cockburn's has also not declared recent vintages as have other firms, causing tongues to wag about the quality of their wines. But now Cockburn has returned to the vintage port scene with a vengence.

Vintage port is the best wine a firm can produce in that year. When a successful brand of high quality wine like Cockburn's Special Reserve which requires a lot of high quality wine for support, the vintage program is bound to suffer. This is what happened at Cockburn between 1975-1983. The bread and butter line cannot be milked for the comparative luxury of vintage port. Happily, Cockburn's have built up stocks of high quality wine and did declare a tiny quantity of superlative 1983. There is much less of this wine than any other shipper's 1983 and will shortly be off the market. The 1983 Vintage has all the hallmarks of the classic Cockburn: dark color, aromatic but not overly plummy perfume; the tannic "grip" which makes Cockburn's distinctive and an elegance and silkiness uncommon in the vintage. You ought not to wait to snap up this wine!

Cockburn Vintage Port 1983, bottled 1985 $ 24.99 bottle $269.89 case

Also offered were 1975 (at $42.99 a bottle or $464.29 a dozen); 1970 ($52.99, $572.29); 1967 ($46.99, $507.49); 1963 ($84.15, $908.82); 1960 ($86.25, $931.50); and 1955 ($152.39, $1,645.81) — all these dozens being 10% cheaper than the per-bottle price.

Pictures by, and by kind permission of,

Sylvie’s Wine Auctions of Antwerp.


Page 8

Croft

1851 Croft Produced and sold 1861 Croft Produced and sold 1885 Croft Produced and sold

[Adding Rayne bottling of 1885 Croft.]

Pictures by and by kind permission of Darrel Rosander.

Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent pictures and comments.

1851: “Marked Minton with date code for 1866 on reverse.” Height 83.7mm; width 143.5mm; thickness 6.9mm; hole diameter 13mm; weight 95g.

1861: “Marked Minton with date code for 1864 on reverse. There is another disk the same except 85 in place of 84. This probably started as a blank label to which the inscription was added later.” Height 100.6mm; width 99.5mm; thickness 5.6mm; hole diameter 12.5mm; weight 82.4g.

1885: Bin label says “Croft’s Port 1885 Rayne Binned 1888”. Height 133.8mm; width 134.6mm; thickness 5.6mm; hole diameter 11.5mm; weight 82.4g.

The non-Vintage numbers mightl be bin numbers.

1914 Croft ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding either 1914 Croft, or a bottling of 1914 Roêda.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle. The back label is signed “G.Hobson 1989” beneath:

This bottle of Crofts 1914.Vintage Port, was shipped by by Pipe and bottled at Chesters Brewery Co Ardwick, for the manager Mr George Smith Thomson personal use. It has not been rebottled.

The list of The Fladgate Partnership quoted on page 50 in Croft 1781–1786 included “Quinta da Roêda Vintage Ports: …, 1914, …”. This might be Quinta da Roêda.



Page 9

Delaforce

1957 Delaforce ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1957 Delaforce.]

In summer 2020, Alex Bridgeman purchased from a charity shop in St Leonards-on-Sea an Autumn 1966 catalogue of “Smith Bros. & Co. Ltd.”. The catalogue lists “Delaforce 1957” at 26/6 a bottle.

This could be genuine; but it could be a 1955 bottled 1957. My faith in the care with which this catalogue was made is lessened by the next line, which mis-spells a famous Symington brand as “Ware’s”. And the Delaforce is almost the same price as Martinez 1955, a major declaration of a shipper then at least as prestigious, and older than 1957. My judgement: more likely ’55 than ’57.

1974 Delaforce Quinta da Corte Produced and sold [Adding 1974 Delaforce Quinta da Corte.]

At the Delaforce Vertical on 24 April 2012, at The Bung Hole.

JDAW: Red-brown, 30% opaque. Weird acidic nose. To taste lots of acidity. Lots early; more later. Later I noted a very smokey bonfire residue. Perhaps twenty years too old?

AHB: Light colour, pale centre; 10% opaque. Slightly varnishy nose, although fairly attractive. Thick texture on the palate but very inspid and simple flavours - just the ghost of some fruit and a touch of tobacco. Air releases orange flavours. Heat on the aftertaste, then a long but rather light finish with some pepperiness dominating. 81/100.

JGH: Similar colour to the 1960. Loads of eucalyptus on the nose. In the mouth, some simple sugar. Then more eucalyptus with a little orange. Very good Port in an unusual year.

DfC74’s omission from the book was careless. I apologise.


Page 10

Dow

1896 Dow Produced and sold Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent pictures of and statistics for a Dow 1896

bin label which says “Port Dows 1896”: height 88.0mm; width 93.3mm; thickness 4.4mm; hole diameter 5.5mm; weight 110.6g.

1915 Dow ≈ Produced, if sold perhaps only in Denmark [Adding 1915 Dow.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle “Silva & Cosens Ltd”, “Oporto”, “1915”, “Vintage Portwein”, “Carl Krumbak & Co. – Københaven”.

Left picture by and by kind permission of Darrel Rosander. Centre and right pictures by and by kind permission of Sten Ivarsson.

1929 Dow Produced and sold, likely small quantity [Upgrading certainty from “≈ Produced, perhaps not sold”.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle, with an under-label saying “Hans Andersen, Kiøbenhavn” in Fraktur type.

1942 Dow ≈ Not quite official Wessex Auction Rooms, 11 November 2016, lot 321, was “A Dow's 1942

bottle of vintage port”.

1965 Dow Quinta do Bomfim Produced and sold Alex Bridgeman sent a picture of a label.

1972 Dow Quinta do Bomfim Produced, and sold in Denmark [Adding 1972 Dow Quina do Bomfim.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle of “Dow’s Quinta do Bomfim 1972 Vintage Port”, with an under-label saying “Hans Chr. Rasch. København”.

This seems to be another single-Quinta sold only to Denmark.


Picture Alex Bridgeman


Page 11

Ferreira

1962 Ferreira ≈ Produced, at least one bottle sold [Adding 1962 Ferreira.]

In May 2019 for sale at 895 in Manuel Tavares, a Lisbon wine merchant founded in 1860. The website’s image appears nearby.

1963 Ferreira Quinta do Vesuvio ≈ Produced, likely sold in small quantity [Adding 1963 Vesuvio.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a Danish bottling of Vesuvio 1963, then still owned by Ferreira. “I have had at least 12 in my cellar once upon a time!”

Time does reduce their number.

Left picture by, and by kind permission of, Manuel Tavares. Right picture by, and by kind permission of, Sten Ivarsson.


Page 12

Feuerheerd

1922 Feuerheerd Zimbro ≈ Produced, likely sold in small quantity [Adding 1922 Feuerheerd Zimbro.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a Danish bottling of 1922 Zimbro, also branded Feuerheerd.

1924 Feuerheerd Quinta de la Rosa ≈ Produced and sold, likely small quantity [Adding 1924 Feuerheerd Rosa, and bottle pictures.]

On page 149 a Berry Bros catalogue offers “1924 Feuerheerd, La Rosa”: Sten Ivarsson sent pictures of two bottles.

1927 Feuerheerd Quinta de la Rosa ≈ Produced and sold, likely small quantity [Adding 1927 Feuerheerd Rosa.]

On page 149 Port Vintages lists Feuerheerd 1927. Sten Ivarsson has sent pictures of a bottle of “Quinta de la Rosa Vintage Port Shipper by Feuerheerd Bros & Co. Ltd”, but alas the picture were too out-of-focus for reproduction here.

1929 Feuerheerd Quinta de la Rosa ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1929 Feuerheerd Rosa.]

Sten Ivarsson reports that he had the Rosa 1929 at a great party in 1998, but that was before pictures were usually taken: “but I know for sure that we had it on that party!”

The absence of a picture is unfortunate. The absence of an invitation was more so.

1947 Feuerheerd ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1947 Feuerheerd.]

From VintagePort.se: Feuerheerd 1947 was tasted once in Malmö by the Wine Society 18%, by SAI, JB, SS, on 14 April 2017. Colour: “Still astonishing dark but yellow mature in colour.” Bouquet: “Sweet liquorice, cacao, spiciness, ginger, candy, old grocery shop and cinnamon in the nose.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and peaking with a nice balanced acidity like a Colheita. Very complex and delicious with sweet liquorice and cacao in taste. The finish is very long and very elegant. A lovely port indeed. This is probably a Colheita even if you can read Vintage on the neck.” Score: 17.50.

Is this a mis-labelled colheita? Is this a Vintage Port oxidised via a leaky cork? Neither hypothesis is disproven.

By and by kind permission of Sten Ivarsson.



Page 13

Fonseca

1890 Fonseca Produced and sold Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent pictures of, and statistics for,

some “Port Fouseca 1890” bin labels: “Set of six ovals with tabs are cast iron. They are unmarked. Probably before 1900.”

Heights 86.8–88.8mm; widths 92.4–94.0mm; thicknesses 4.1–4.4mm; hole gauges 5.5mm; weights 108.3–118.4g.

1906 Quinta do Panascal ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1906 Panascal.]

Sten Ivarsson pointed me to a tasting note on VintagePort.se of a bottle that might be Vintage Port: “George’s Imperial Crown Red Quinta do Panascal 1906” (so not necessarily made by Fonseca), which was tasted on 25 December 2016 by “SAI, JB, SS”.

Colour: “Tawny and quite beautiful in colour.” Bouquet: “Butterscotch, crème caramel, dried fruit raisin and some dark chocolate.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and of course peaking but not old in taste. It was balanced and hold together. Quite elegant and very tasty with crème caramel and butterscotch dominated. Quite dry with a nice acidity and a quite attractive finish. Very easy to drink and enjoy. An astonishing bottle indeed!” Comment: “At home with the family George proprietor and exporter was a trade mark in Villa Nova de Gaya and London. We believe that that label stating Red means that it was a late bottled vintage but of course we do not know. Anyhow it tasted as an old vintage should and not as a colheita.” Score: “17.40”.

1925 Guimaraens Quinta da Terra Feita ? Perhaps [Adding 1925 Fonseca Quinta da Terra Feita; though this is now a Taylor quinta.]

On 9 Jun 2020, at the Amsterdam auction house De Zwaan, lot 1181P comprised one bottle of 1896 Madeira, and one bottle of “Quinta da Terra Feita 1925 Vintage Port Shipped by Guimaraens & Co, Oporto”, “Imported by N. V. Hoogewerff Chabot & Visser’s Wynhandel”. Hammered at 460. (Thank you to George Gillham for the pointer.)

First seen 95 years after the harvest. It could be a small production sold only into the Dutch market.

1944 Fonseca Guimaraens ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1944 Fonseca Guimaraens.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle of Fonseca Guimaraens 1944.

1946 Fonseca Guimaraens ≈ Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1946 Fonseca Guimaraens.]

At Sotheby’s on 19 November 1986 lot 622 comprised:

Beaune Grèves 1945 OB Avery’s Selection (1) Guimaraens 1946 OB Metal capsule, labelled (1) Sandeman 1955 Embossed metal capsule, labelled (1) Château Batailley 1955 UK Harveys (1 hf. bt.) Chambertin 1955 UK Harvey’s (1)


Picture by kind permission of De Zwaan.



Page 14

These 4½ bottles were estimated at “£78-90”; the actual sale price is not known. (Thank you to Sten Ivarsson for pointing me to this, and also to Sotheby’s wine department for sending scans of the catalogue.)

1947 Fonseca Guimaraens Produced and sold [Adding 1947 Fonseca Guimaraens.]

At Sotheby’s on 20 October 1999 lot 979 comprised:

Fonseca Guimaraens 1947 OB (1) Label soiled and torn Offley Boa Vista 1963 UK Hedges & Butler (1) u. bn, metal capsule, labelled Sandeman 1966 OB (1) Wax capsule, labelled, signs of seepage Graham 1970 OB (3) u. 1bn, metal capsules, labelled

These six bottles were estimated at “£110-150”; the actual sale price was £190 hammer = £209 including the 10% buyer’s premium. (Thank you to Sten Ivarsson for pointing me to this, and also to Sotheby’s wine department for sending the catalogue.)

Gerwin de Graaf sent an email on 23 October 2019.

In January 2015, I purchased 3 bottles of this, from a private seller. I remember him saying that these (and other bottles of Port and wine) were given to his father, who had been the caretaker of a convent/abbey. These came out of the cellar of the convent/abbey after it was closed and he could keep them.

I have no other knowledge of provenance. I have had contact with Fonseca around the time I bought them (via e-mail) about the authenticity of these bottles, and they replied that, as far as they could see the bottles are authentic.

The pictures show a importation by N. V. Wynhandel van Hendrik Kruimel of Amsterdam, but the capsule says “Port Guimaraens Oporto”, so bottled in Portugal.

1977 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal Produced in small quantity, and sold Auction, by Golding Young, in Grantham on 6 February 2019 as lot 56, of “Twelve

bottles of Fonseca Guimaraens Panascal 1977 vintage port, in a pine crate”. Hammered at £675, so about £810 with buyer’s commission.

1999 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal Produced and sold [Adding 1999 Fonseca Panascal.]

Fonseca Quinta do Panascal 1999 was presented at both the May 2018 and April 2019 Big Fortified Tastings—a trade fair held in Church House, Westminster. (And doff of the hat to Sten Ivarsson for noticing the omission and sending a picture.)

Pictures (of 1977 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal boxes) by and by kind permission of Golding Young auctioneers.

Image by Gerwin de Graaf.

Image by Gerwin de Graaf.

Picture by, and by kind permission of, Phil Wakely

(from the lot sold by Golding Young in February 2019).


Page 15

Gonzalez Byass

1920 Gonzalez Byass Roriz Produced, perhaps sold, perhaps only in Denmark Anders Christiansen kindly sent pictures of a bottle bought for about 100 in 2011.

Pictures by and by kind permission of Anders Christiansen.

Tasted at home, in 2012, with Gustavo Devesas of Symington Family Estates.

Na r man skal smage en sa gammel vin er der naturligvis en risiko for at vinen er ga et over eller der er fejl pa. Men denne vin var perfekt, proppen var naturligvis mørnet, en del depot i flasken, som sad fast (heldigvis).

Farven var meget lys brun, karamel farvet, over i gul. Duften som bestemt udviklede sig til det bedre fra første duft, og igennem de 4 timer som vi nød vinen, var urtolig enkel og fin. En utrolig delikat duft af brændt sukker, brun farin, lidt appelsin, kanel og kaffe. Smagen var næsten den samme som duften, dog med lidt karamel og fine krydderier som spillede godt mod den markante sødme. Der var en fin lille syre, og var i god balance. mellem lang til lang eftersmag, som bare blev hængende i munden.... Ummmmm.

Samlet vurdering 9 ********* stjerner

Approximate translation:

When tasting such an old wine there is, of course, a risk that the wine has become too old or faulty. But this wine was perfect, the cork was obviously dark, …

The color was very light brown, caramel into yellow. The scent that certainly evolved improved after the start, and through the 4 hours we enjoyed the wine, was simple. An incredibly delicate nose of roasted sugar, brown sugar, a little orange, cinnamon and coffee. The taste was almost the same as the scent, though with a little caramel and fine spices that played well against the distinctive sweetness. There was a nice little acid, and was in good balance. The aftertaste was very long, and just remained in the mouth.

Overall rating 9 ********* stars.

1947 Gonzalez Byass ≈ Produced, perhaps sold, perhaps only in Denmark [Adding 1947 Gonzalez Byass.]

Sten Ivarsson sent an out-of-focus picture of a bottle of “Gonzalez Port Vintage 1947”, imported by Lorentz Petersen of Copenhagen. VintagePort.se records that it was tasted by SAI, JB, SS on 29 July 2014. Colour: “Yellow mature in colour”. Bouquet: “Salmiak, liquorice, cacao and dark chocolate in the nose. Lovely bouquet.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and on top. Salmiak and cacao in taste. Balanced, complex and very attractive port with a lovely finish.” Score: 17


Page 16

1948 Gonzalez Byass Produced and sold, likely small quantity [Adding 1948 Gonzalez Byass.]

Tasted on 12 December 2018 at Otto’s French Restaurant on the Gray’s Inn Road. It had been bought on 4 December 2018 by Phil Wakely, as lot 578 from Bellmans auctioneers in Billingshurst:

Four bottles of port comprising; 1948 Gonzalez Bypass vintage, 1979 Taylors L.B.V., 1997 Taylors L.B.V. and a 1961 Noval crusted, also four bottles of wine; 1994 Chateau De Fleurie, 2004 Chateaneuf De Pape, 2007 Chateay Mont Milan Corbieres and a 2007 Lours Latour Pinot Noir red burgundy

Hammered for £260, so £344.24 with buyer’s premium. Hence the Gonzalez Byass 1948 likely cost most of £300.

Bottle condition good, the level being very top shoulder, and the colour was also good.

JDAW: Colour red-brown, 70% opaque. Nose foul. Palate had same foulness as nose, with some plums and simple sugars. After the first sip, not drunk further.

PW: Taste dreadful, but there we go. It happens.

Sten Ivarsson sent an out-of-focus picture of a bottle of “Gonzalez Vintage Port 1948”, imported by DorphPetersens Vinlager of Copenhagen. The Mälmo group has three times tasted Gonzalez Byass 1948, most recently by SAI, JB, SS on 1 August 2018, recorded on VintagePort.se. Colour: “Mature yellow, almost tawny colour.” Bouquet: “Crème caramel, roasted coffee beans, some spiciness, cacao, chocolate and a hint of pharmacy in the nose. Quite old but also delicious bouquet.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and peaking but balanced with some old and quite delicate acidity. Complex, elegant and with some sweetness and a lovely and quiet long finish. Astonishing good and very delicate port!” Score: 17.40; score range: 14.00–17.40

Gould Campbell

1934 Gould Campbell ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1934 Gould Campbell.]

In February 2019 a bottle of Gould Campbell 1934 was being broked by Seckford Wines for £450. Seckford Wines kindly forwarded questions to the vendor, who replied:

… purchased from Wilkinson 11 years ago. It was the only bottle so I’ve no idea what it tastes like! I paid £85.

1966 Gould Campbell Produced and sold [Adding a bottler, Peatling & Cawdron.]

On 11 October 2017 a long-delayed vertical of Gould Campbell was held at the Boot and Flogger. The 1966 had been bottled by Peatling & Cawdron.

1978 Gould Campbell ? Perhaps produced, perhaps only in Denmark [Adding 1978 Gould Campbell.]

Sten Ivarsson reports that he and “the Danish Port Wine Club” enjoyed “Gould Campbell 1978” on 28 November 1991. Alas: “Sorry no picture—too early”.

Entirely possible, but not quite enough evidence for this to be labelled as definitely produced.

Photograph the author, 12 December 2018.

Photograph courtesy of

Seckford Wines, February 2019.


Page 17

Graham

1933 Graham ≈ Produced, perhaps sold, likely small quantity [Adding 1933 Graham.]

Bought in May 2014 by Tom Archer, who reports that it was “Part of an unlabelled stash that was nearly dumped in a skip … Six bottles were bottled by E. M. Laing & Co. Ltd of Newcastle on Tyne”.

Two of the bottles were Taylor 1935 but one bottle revealed itself, on 18 December 2014, to be Graham 1933.

AHB: The cork confirmed this to be Graham 1933, bottled 1936. Deep red in colour with a rose rim; 20% opaque. Dusty fruit on the nose, lively and interesting. Sweet and mature on the palate; great sweet port that is full of fruit yet with an amazing balance. Sweet and fragrant fruit on the long finish. Very, very fine. 93/100.

The only other mention of this bottler is on page 449, Michael Broadbent having tasted a Smith Woodhouse 1935 “Bottled by Laing of Sunderland”.

1942 Graham Malvedos ≈ Produced, not necessarily sold [Adding 1942 Malvedos.]

Port Vintages lists Graham 1942, on page 208.

But eagle-eyed Sten Ivarsson remarks that in the picture of the private cellar (shown on p199 next to Graham 1868 and below on the left) a small bin of “Malvedos 1942” is beneath a larger bin of “Grahams 1942”.

Sten Ivarsson also sent a picture (below on the right) of a bin holding Malvedos 1942. His picture’s bin has different neighbours to my picture’s bin. But the bins’ signs have identical smudging: same signs, so very probably the same bottles with a cellar rearrangement between the taking of the photographs.

Picture by the author, on 20 June 2017: from page 199 of Port Vintages.


It is not impossible that this was careless labelling (e.g., discussion on pp222-3), but it’s likely that the Malvedos isn’t the same Port as the Graham. There’s only one way to tell, which of course requires a statistically valid multplicity of bottles. My calendar is free that day—as I suspect is the reader’s!

1943 Graham ? Possible [Adding, perhaps, 1943 Graham.]

Sten Ivarsson: “When I was visiting Factory House many years ago, in their library was an empty bottle of Graham 1943 (sorry, no picturesit was 1989). Haven’t you seen it?”


Page 18

My first visit to the library was in 2008, and I have been twice since. It has not been there since 2008.

1954 Graham (rather than Malvedos) ≈ A question of definition On 25 September 2019 friends and I lunched at The Factory House. Alex Bridgeman sat next to Peter Symington, and

described the Harvey 1954 we’d had a few days before, which p211 of Port Vintages identifies as Graham’s Malvedos.

Alex Bridgeman describes his conversation as follows:

Without having mentioned the UK Wine Merchant’s name, Peter asked if we were sure it had been a Malvedos 1954 and not a Graham 1954. When I told him that all we knew was that it was a Harvey 1954 Vintage Port he shared with me the fact that in 1956 Harvey approached the Graham family and asked for a few pipes of 1954 Vintage Port. Graham’s were pleased to supply this, but also kept a few bottles back in Portugal. Some of the retained bottles were purchased by the directors and friends of the company, some of whom were friends of Peter and his parents.

If I recall correctly, when one of the Graham friends died many years after 1954, Peter acquired a few bottles of the 1954 Vintage Port which had been supplied to Harvey’s but bottled and retained in Portugal and still has a small number. These are labelled as Graham 1954 and are drinking extremely well, as we found when we consumed our bottle at Canais.

Could the Harvey 1954 be Graham 1954? Perhaps. It’s not impossible that the same wine was also referred to in the UK as Malvedos 1954 since the “second wine” of the Graham family at the time would not have been made exclusively from grapes grown within the boundaries of Quinta dos Malvedos.

The sources quoted on p211 did not seem clear-cut about whether it was “Graham” or “Graham Malvedos”. So the comment on p211 still applies: “Some of these refer to “Malvedos”, or a variant thereof. Some do not. The use of a Quinta name for junior vintage port was novel in the 1950s, so some of the English bottlers might have preferred the brand “Graham”.”

And that bottle tasted at Canais, as noted by AHB:

Harvey’s 1954 — from Port Vintages p211 believed to be Malvedos 1954. A wonderful mature red colour, 40% opaque. Rich Christmas cake on the nose, full and delightfully complex. Full of fruit on the palate, with many layers of flavour. Rich and sweet on the mid-palate, multiple layers. Beautiful rose hip and red currant on the aftertaste. Long and very, very fine. A wonderful mature Port. 95/100.

1963 Graham Produced and sold [Adding a bottler, Grants of St James’s.]

In November 2015 Alex Bridgeman purchased six bottles at £75 each, from a family in Berkshire, who were liquidating the estate of the longest surviving of the parents. The bottles were said to have been stored in a chalk cellar since being acquired by the family. One was drunk on 18 October 2020:

1963 Graham, bottled in 1965 by Grants of St James’s. Opened at 09:30, decanted at 16:30, drunk at 20:30.

Deep bronze-red colour, 50% opaque. A wonderful nose of mature sweet redcurrant and raisin fruit, spiced with hints of mace and cinnamon; very attractive. Lovely complex flavours on entry, raisin, redcurrant and some peppercorn heat. Layer after layer of mature fruit play across the palate. The flavours run across the aftertaste and give a fabulous cranberry finish which goes on for minutes. A wonderful bottle of fully mature Port to savour over several hours. 95/100.

Picture by Alex Bridgeman.


Page 19

Kopke

1991 Kopke Quinta São Luiz Produced and sold 1992 Kopke Quinta São Luiz Produced and sold 2001 Kopke Quinta São Luiz Produced and sold 2009 Kopke Quinta São Luiz Produced and sold 2010 Kopke Quinta São Luiz Produced and sold

[Adding Kopke Quinta São Luiz 1991, 1992, 2001, 2009, 2010.]

Several vintages of Kopke Quinta São Luiz, for sale at multiple wine merchants mostly in the Netherlands, should have been mentioned in the Later Vintages section of the Kopke chapter. These include 1991, 1992, 2001, 2009, 2010.

Krohn

1917 Krohn ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1917 Krohn.]

A bottle was sold by the Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen, who wrote:

… a bottle of this was sold here in August 2016. Before you rewrite history you should know, that it was a Danish bottling and that the merchants of that time in our experience were not always 100% accurate with what they put on the label. The bottle was sold for a bit less than 650 euros.

1931 Krohn Produced and sold [More evidence: upgrading from “Probably made but not sold” to “Produced and sold”.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle of Wiese & Krohn 1931.



Page 20

Mackenzie

1927 Mackenzie Produced and sold VintagePort.se records that Sten Ivarsson tasted 1927 at home with “JB, SS, SMI, MB, ES, JH” on 1 May 2009. Colour:

“Yellow mature tawny colour.” Bouquet: “Elegant complex nose of marzipan. Delicious!” Taste: “Mature and at its peak. Elegant. Balanced with a wonderful finish. Quite excellent.” Score: 17.90.

1948 Mackenzie Produced and sold From VintagePort.se: Sten Ivarsson tasted Mackenzie 1948 with “JB, SS, SMI, MB, ES, JH” on 25 December 2011.

Colour: “Mature, tawny in colour.” Bouquet: “Lovely nose of old hospital, fudge and pharmacy.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and past its peak but lovely, still holding and elegant with fudge in flavour and quite long and interesting finish.” Score: 16.40.

1952 Mackenzie Produced and sold From VintagePort.se: Sten Ivarsson tasted 1952 at home with “JB, SS, SMI, MB, ES, JH” on 23 July 2016. Colour:

“Mature amber and beautiful in colour.” Bouquet: “Elegant bouquet of herbs, toffee, candy, dark chocolate, cacao ginger and much more in the nose.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and peaking. Very elegant and balanced port with cacao, ginger and candy in teste. Quite sweet but very complex and a delicious and wonderful finish which never seem to end but retuned and returned again. What a Port!! Astonishing!” Score: 17.75.

1970 Mackenzie Produced and sold [Upgrading Mackenzie 1970 from “Unlikely”.]

From VintagePort.se: Mackenzie 1970 was tasted by the Wine Society 18% Great Tasting in Malmö with “JB, SS, SMI, MB, ES, JH” on 13 November 2008. Colour: “Yellow mature tawny colour.” Bouquet: “Pharmacy and ether bouquet. Seemed quite old in the nose.” Taste: “Medium body. Elegant but old in taste. Rather complex with a good finish. Easy to drink and like.” Score: 15.25.


Page 21

Martinez

1896 Martinez Produced and sold Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent a picture of a cast-iron

bin label saying “Port Martinez 1896”: height 88.0mm; width 93.3mm; thickness 4.1mm; hole diameter 6mm; weight 108.2g.

1947 Martinez ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1947 Martinez.]

Sten Ivarsson reports “drinking Martinez 1947 in the Danish Port Wine Club on the 31 May 1990 (sorry no pictures)”.

1948 Martinez Produced and sold, likely small quantity [Adding 1948 Martinez.]

Auctioned by Bonhams, 1 December 2011, lot 1053: “Martinez 1948, OB (fine appearance, orignal tissues & straw sleeves) 7 bottles”, the typo being in the catalogue. Sold at £575 including buyer’s premium.

Two bottles at the Olympic tasting on 25 July 2012:

Dark red, 70% opaque. Faint nose. taste rich, some heat, very long. Really excellent. Some leather and smoked. Really liked.

60% opaque, red-brown. Faint nose. The taste much more dried out than her prettier sister.

Also tasted on 12 December 2018 at Otto’s French restaurant, Gray’s Inn Road:

Dark red, 60% opaque. Big, tannic, super-dry, large acidity. Great balance — what mature Port is meant to be.

Mz48’s omission from the book was careless. I apologise.

1953 Martinez Produced and sold Paul Symington sent two photographs, and comment:

I have two (empty) half bottles of Martinez 1953 Vintage Port.

These bottes were given to me by Peter Cobb then a Director of both Martinez and Cockburn’s, on 6th December 1983. This was my 30th birthday party at my home here in Valadares, Vila Nova de Gaia.

The Cobbs had been part owners of both these Port companies until they were sold to Harveys […]

The two bottles do not have proper labels. They came directly from the Martinez Lodge in Gaia and Peter typed the following:

When you’re bidden by Paul Symington to a ball, You need to consult Krishnamurthy. Could it be, do you think, That he’s taken to drink, Or is he about to be thirty?

I have no idea why the reference to Krishnamurthy, unless it is to rhyme with thirty.

Sadly the corks were in very poor condition. I opened one bottle at the time: the wine was pale and delicate and very soft on the palate. Interesting for being from 1953, but not much more. The second bottle still has the original cork, but it is empty. The wine was already 1/5th empty when given to me and the rest evaporated quietly (and sadly) in my cellar.

Peter did tell me at the time that he did not think that the bottles were more than of historic interest. But I did enjoy tasting a Port of my birth year.


Photograph the author, 12 December 2018.


Page 22

1995 Martinez Eira Velha Produced and sold 1997 Martinez Eira Velha Produced and sold 2000 Martinez Eira Velha Produced and sold

[Adding Martinez Eira Velha 1995, 1997 and 2000.]

1995, 1997 and 2000 Martinez Quinta da Eira Velha should have been mentioned in the Later Vintages section of the Martinez chapter, as noticed by Sten Ivarsson.

Picture Paul Symington.


Page 23

Niepoort Allan E. Laurents of Denmark sent a correction the history of Niepoort:

It is a common mistake to credit Franciscus Marius as the founder of the Company. But it was not. Another Dutchman, Eduard Kebe, founded his own Company in 1842, and in 1847 he took van der Niepoort as his partner. Kebe died in 1858, leaving the Port Company in the hands of the Niepoort family.

As a special tribute to his partner Eduard Kebe, Franciscus named his firstborn son, Eduard (Karel Jacob van der Niepoort), and that tradition has carried on in the family: 1. Fransiscus; 2. Eduard Karel Jacob; 3. Eduard Marius; 4. Eduard Rudolf (Rolf); 5. Eduard Dirk; 6. Eduard Daniel and Eduard Marco.

1945 Niepoort Produced and sold Corti Brothers Fine Wines, of Sacremento California, in the catalogue dated December 1971 (page 34 in Taylor Vargellas

1957), offered “Niepoort 1945, Lodge bottled March 1948” at $13.20 a bottle or $142.56 a dozen ($11.88 a bottle, a discount of 10%).

The bottling date agrees with that quoted in the Christie’s catalogue of December 1969, which sold at prices near 500/- per dozen = £25 ≈ $60, so about $5 a bottle, consistent with that being the source for the Corti stock.

1979 Niepoort ≈ Produced, not declared [Adding, unofficially, 1979 Niepoort.]

From www.VintagePort.se: Tasted 5 October 1989 during the first trip to Portugal of the Danish Port Wine Club. Colour: “Dark blue with a yellow mature rim in colour.” Bouquet: “Cinnamon and burned sugar bouquet.” Taste: “Medium body. Elegant. Rather mature and easy to drink. Complex port with a nice finish.” Score: 15.40. Note: “This year was produced but not declared or sold but Rolf Niepoort kindly provided this vintage (together with some other wonderful bottles) to us in his cellar to compare with a LBV 1979.”

1982 Niepoort Produced and sold Corti Brothers Fine Wines, of Sacremento California, from the catalogue dated Spring 1987:

This shipping firm with a Dutch name was founded in the early nineteenth century.

Its traditional specialty is the production of certain styles of well-aged tawny wines not produced by any other firm. Its stocks of old, dated wines are kept in glass demijohns (very large bottles) and blended or bottled for sale when needed. They rarely ship a vintage port. Up to this year, the only vintage we ever offered was the 1945, a wine which gave a lot of pleasure to a lot of customers. We have now bought another vintage of superb quality, the 1982.

1982 and 1983 are twin vintages. There have been several back to back years in this century: 1934-1935; 1947-1948; 1966-1967; 1982-1983. As a rule most firms don't like to declare back to back vintages, though, some do. The current twins will provide great debate and back and forth tasting. Niepoort declared both 1983 and 1982 vintage. I think 1982 is by far the superior wine, but there are not too many 1982 Vintage declarations. On the other hand, is this not what vintage declaration is about? The firm "declares" a vintage when it has superb wine to bottle, not because everyone else is going to declare. There use to be more individuality in this practice, but now there seems to be greater conformity.

Niepoort 1982 is everything really fine vintage wine should be. It is very dark in color, rich with ripe fruit, tannic and long on the palate. The "plummy" character of this style is quite marked and the wine has extraordinary freshness and savor. It was a revelation when we tasted it and even more so when we saw the price. While an extremely good value, (cheap!), it is even more so in comparison with most, if not all, of the other shippers' 1983 vintage. Here is a vintage which rivals its more popular twin. Personally, I cannot recommend a wine any higher than this.

Niepoort Vintage Port 1982, bottled 1984 $ 16.49 bottle $ 178.09 case


Page 24

Quinta do Noval

1931 Quinta do Noval Produced and sold Auction, Christie’s, 8 September 2011, lot 609 was four bottles of “Quinta do Noval—Vintage

1931”, “English bottled by Dolamore. Embossed wax capsules, some damaged, one with vintage illegible. No labels. Levels: three into neck and one top shoulder”. Estimated at £1,600 to £2,000; sold at £3,450.

1934 Quinta do Noval Produced and sold [Adding a bottling by Justerini & Brooks, and a possible bottling by Loeb.]

Heritage Auctions, on 20 September 2019, lot 400, hammered to Andy Velebil at $500, being $615 with the buyer’s premium. The bottle of Quinta do Noval 1934 is shown: “Exported by O. W. Loeb & Company Ltd.”, and “Exclusively imported for Esquin Imports San Francisco”. This might, and might not, have been bottled by O. W. Loeb.

Also, Alex bridgeman owns a bottle of Quinta do Noval 1934, bottle by Justerini & Brooks. He acquired it in a private sale in 2008 from an elderly gentleman well known in the wine trade.

Left picture by Andy Velebil; middle picture by the author; and right picture by Alex Bridgeman.

1955 Quinta do Noval Produced and sold Adding a bottling by [Grants of St James.]

Taken to Phil Wakely’s fiftieth, by the author, was a bottle of “Quinta do Noval 1955 Vintage” that had been “Selected & Bottled by Grants of St James Ltd. London S.W.1.”

1955 Quinta do Noval Nacional Produced and sold 1960 Quinta do Noval Nacional Produced and sold

Alex Bridgeman sent a pictures of a bottle of 1955 and 1960 Quinta do Noval Nacional. The ’55 has a label different to that shown on page 312.

Picture AHB.

Picture by the author, October 2019.


Page 25

1979 Quinta do Noval Nacional Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1979 Quinta do Noval Nacional.]

Sten Ivarsson and VintagePort.se note a tasting of Nacional 1979 on 23 May 1995 in Copenhagen at the hundredth tasting of the Danish Port Wine Club. Colour: “Yellow mature”. Bouquet: “Wonderful nose of coffee, tea and cacao”. Taste: “Surprisingly full-bodied. Still some fruit and tannins. Complex and balanced finish. Very good indeed.” Score: 16¾.

1999 Quinta do Noval Quinta do Marco Produced and sold [Adding 1999 Quinta do Noval Quinta do Marco.]

1999 Quinta do Noval Quinta do Marco should have been mentioned in the Later Vintages section of the Noval chapter, as noticed by Sten Ivarsson. And Alex Bridgeman bought a bottle for 40, from the Quinta itself, on 29 September 2018.

Pictures by Alex Bridgeman.


Page 26

Offley

1896 Offley Produced and sold Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent a picture of and statistics about

an Offley 1896 bin label: “Port Offleys Boa Vista 1896”: height 88.1mm; width 93.4mm; thickness 4.1mm; hole diameter 5.5mm; weight 109.6g.

1926 Forrester ≈ Unclear if related to Offley [Mentioning 1926 Forrester.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of “Forrester’s No. 26 Port Vintage 1926.

1947 Offley ≈ Probably [Upgraded from “Perhaps, perhaps colheita” to Probably.]

Sten Ivarsson sent an out-of-focus picture of a bottle of “Offley Boa Vista”, “1947”, “Vintage Port”, “Bottled in 1949”.

1955 Offley Produced and sold Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of an Offley 1955

imported into Denmark.

Quarles Harris

1931 Quarles Harris ≈ Probably [Adding, probably, 1931 Quarles Harris.]

Sylvie’s Wine Auctions of Antwerp, in October 2015, lot 1414, was one bottle of Quarles Harris 1931, “vts”. Estimated at 120 to 200; hammered at 340; with buyer’s commission 408. The picture on the website was very low resolution.




Page 27

Ramos Pinto

1927 Ramos Pinto Bom Retiro ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1927 Bom Retiro, which might be the same as Ramos Pinto 1927.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle: “Adriano Ramos Pinto & Irmão, Lda”, “Bom Retiro”, “1927”, “Engarrafado em Maio de 1932”. By modern rules this would be a late-bottled vintage.

1947 Ramos Pinto ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1947 Ramos Pinto.]

Sten Ivarsson tasted Ramos Pinto 1947 on 21 January 2006 in Malmö with JB and SS. Colour: “Mature tawny in colour.” Bouquet: “Crème caramel with burned sugar and old grocery shop in the nose.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and on top. Elegant and complex with burned sugar in flavour. Wonderful generous and delicious finish. Extraordinary port indeed.” Score: 17.40

1977 Ramos Pinto Produced and sold, at least into Denmark [Adding 1977 Ramos Pinto.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of a bottle of Ramos Pinto 1977, the importer being “Sigurd Müller Vinhandel A/S”, “Aalborg”. As of September 2019 the importer still exists, its website saying that it was founded in 1975.

1984 Ramos Pinto Produced and sold [Upgrading 1984 Ramos Pinto from “Unlikely”.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of bottles and a branded wooden case of Ramos Pinto 1984. My previous judgement, “Unlikely”, was too cynical: RP84 really exists.



Page 28

Rebello Valente

1942 Rebello Valente Produced and sold 1943 Rebello Valente Produced and sold

[Upgrading 1942 Rebello Valente from “Perhaps”. Adding 1943 Rebello Valente.]

Sten Ivarsson: “Rebello Valente 1943 was enjoyed on my 40th birthday! I will never forget it!”.

The modern typeface closest — even though not identical — to that used for the “R V ” might be Denver Serial Bold.

1967 Rebello Valente Produced and sold Corti Brothers Fine Wines, of Sacremento

California, in the catalogue dated summer 1972 was Rebello Valente 1967 in magnum. The table shows US $ prices.

The 1970 Vintage Ports which “will arrive December - January 1973” cost, “Until Oct. 31, 1972”, $44.50 the case for Taylor, Fonseca, Croft, Graham, and Rebello Valente; and $41.25 for Messias. And: “… 5 years free storage in Vila Nova can be arranged. Wines stored will remain in Portugal until the Spring of 1978”.

The catalogue of December 1971 (see page 34 in Taylor 1957) had singles and magnums and halves of Rebello Valente 1967.

Andy Velebil remarks of a bottle drank on 29 July 2019: “It was on the downhill side of maturity and needs drinking soon if bottle is representative.”


Cash with order Full Cases Only Until Oct. 31, '72

If Billed Bottle Case

Quinta de Vargellas 1967 44.50 5.50 59.40

Taylor Vintage 1966 46.98 5.80 62.64

Taylor Vintage 1963 56.38 6.96 75.17

Quinta de Vargellas 1961 56.59 6.99 75.49

Cockburn 1967 57.13 5.99 64.69

Rebello Valente 1966 47.76 5.29 57.13

Rebello Valente 1963 69.52 6.96 75.17

Rebello Valente 1967 Moon Year Bottling 53.46 magnums 10.90 58.86

Rebello Valente 1960 71.05 half bottles 3.69 79.70 Prices from summer 1972 catalogue of Corti Brothers Fine Wines, Sacremento California.


Page 29

Royal Oporto To assist with brevity, this section on Royal Oporto and other brands recently used as synonyms, is not in strict vintage order.

1886 Real Companhia Velha Produced and sold Sten Ivarsson sent a (too dark to reproduce) picture of a stencilled bottle of “Real

Cia Velha 1886 Vintage Port”.

1900 Quinta do Sibio ? Perhaps [Adding 1900 Quinta do Sibio.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture of “Jose Duarte d’Oliveira” “Quinta do Sibio” “Costa do Castedo - Alto Douro” “Vintage 1900”.

The use of a hyphen (“-”) rather than an em-dash (“—”) could be computerised typesetting done by somebody not sensitive to the various forms of horizontal line; and hence recent (say, post-1990). This is merely suspicion, not proof.

1908 Hooper Produced and sold 1917 Hooper Produced and sold 1918 Hooper Produced and sold 1922 Hooper Produced and sold

[Upgraded 1908 Hooper from “Probably”. Adding 1917, 1918, and 1922 Hooper.]

Sten Ivarsson tasted Hooper 1908 on 3 May 1986, at a tasting in a friend’s home in Copenhagen. Colour: “Mature tawny colour.” Bouquet: “Nutty and pharmacy in the nose. Elegant.” Taste: “Medium body. Mature and peaking. Complex. Wonderful long finish. Extraordinary port indeed.” Score: 18

He also sent pictures of Hooper 1908, 1917, 1918 and 1922.

1924 Hooper Produced and sold 1929 Hooper Produced and sold 1931 Hooper Produced and sold 1941 Hooper Produced and sold 1944 Hooper Produced and sold 1951 Hooper Produced and sold

[Adding 1924, 1929, 1931, 1941, and 1951 Hooper. Upgrading 1944 Hooper from “Probably”.]


Sten Ivarsson sent pictures of multiple Vintages of Hooper: 1908, 1917, 1918, 1922, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1941, 1944, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1970, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007. The pictures of reproducible quality are shown.


Pictures sent by Sten Ivarsson: original source unknown. If

you are that source, please contact me re permission for use.


Page 30

1935 Guedes Produced and sold 1978 Guedes Produced and sold 1983 Guedes Produced and sold

[Adding 1935, 1978, and 1983 Guedes.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures of Guedes 1935, 1978, and 1983, the ’35 and ’78 pictures being shown. The 1978 is of a design similar to, but slightly better than, that of the 1977 on p406.

1941 Corval Produced and sold 1963 Corval Produced and sold 1977 Corval Produced and sold

[Adding 1941, 1963, and 1977 Quinta do Corval.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures, alas not of reproducible quality, of a “Real Vinicola Corval 1941 Vintage Port”; “1963 Vintage Port” “Quinta do Corval” “Shipped by Real Companhia Vinicola do Norte do Portugal” “Frederiksberg Vinimport København”; and “Royal Oporto” “Vinho do Porto” “Quinta do Corval” “1977 Vintage Port”.

1952 Hooper ? Perhaps [Adding, perhaps, 1952 Hooper.]

Sten Ivarsson, re Hooper: “1952 and many other vintages exist!”


1954 Royal Oporto Produced and sold 1960 Hooper Produced and sold 1970 Hooper Produced and sold 1977 Hooper Produced and sold

[Adding 1954 Royal Oporto; adding 1960, 1970, 1977 Hooper.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures of bottles of Royal Oporto 1954, Hooper 1960, Hooper 1970, and Hooper 1977.



Page 31

1955 Royal Oporto Produced and sold [Adding 1955 Royal Oporto.]

Wine Bid, on 6 December 2015, sold one bottle of 1955 Royal Oporto, at $153. This was bought by Andy Velebil, who sent pictures, including a cork branded “Carvalhas Vintage 1955”. Tasted on 11 January 2020 at the Glendora Country Club, 27 miles east of Los Angeles. Note by, and with the permission of, Stewart Todd.

Light orange on the edges, with an amber-orange center. Candied sweet cherries, bacon and just a hint of vanilla on the nose. Intense approach with expansive flavors of cola and hard cherry candy rolling through the mid-palate. Great concentration of flavor rolls into the very long finish.

1955 Sibio Produced and sold [Adding 1955 Sibio.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture, alas not of reproducible quality, of a stencilled bottle of “Real Vinicola” “Sibio” “1955” “Vintage Port”, with the illegible stamp of a Danish importer.

1957 Hooper Produced and sold [Adding 1957 Hooper.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture, alas not of reproducible quality, of a stencilled bottle of “Hooper’s Vintage Port 1957”, with the stamp of a Danish importer.


Spectrum Wine Auctions, 19 December 2013, lot 2015: two bottles of “Hooper Port 1958”. Estimated at $130; sold at $174 (with buyer’s premium, excluding tax) to Andy Velebil, who opened one on 21 September 2019. The author noted “Brown, 50% opaque. Brown sugars, lots of acidity. Lots. Unbalanced and edge of falling apart. Still drinkable. One can hope that it will improve, but I doubt that the hope is realistic.”

1963 Carvalhas Produced and sold 1998 Carvalhas Produced and sold 2003 Carvalhas Produced and sold 2005 Carvalhas Produced and sold 2007 Carvalhas Produced and sold 2012 Carvalhas Produced and sold 2015 Carvalhas Produced and sold

[Adding 1963, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012, and 2015 Royal Oporto Quinta das Carvalhas.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a pictures, alas not all of reproducible quality, of bottles of Quinta das Carvalhas 1998, 2003, ’05, ’07, ’12, and ’15.

1963 Quinta do Sibio Produced and sold 1970 Quinta do Sibio Produced and sold 1985 Quinta do Sibio Produced and sold

[Adding 1963, 1970, and 1985 Sibio.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures of Quinta do Sibio 1963, 1970, and 1985, of which the first and last are reproduced on the right.

Pictures by Andy Velebil.

Left picture by and by kind permission Andy Velebill; right Sten Ivarsson.



Page 32


Sten Ivarsson sent a picture, alas not of reproducible quality, of a stencilled bottle of “Hooper’s 1963 Vintage Port”.

1978 Hooper Produced and sold 1979 Hooper Produced and sold

[Adding 1978 and 1979 Hooper.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a pictures, alas not of reproducible quality, of bottle of “Hooper’s 1978 Vintage Port” and “Hooper’s 1979 Vintage Port”.


1997 Hooper Produced and sold 2001 Hooper Produced and sold 2004 Hooper Produced and sold 2005 Hooper Produced and sold 2007 Hooper Produced and sold

[Adding 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2007 Hooper.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a pictures of stencilled bottles of Hooper’s 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2007 Vintage Port.


Sten Ivarsson sent a low-resolution picture of a labelled bottle of “Hooper’s 2003 Vintage Port”.

2008 Real Companhia Velha Produced and sold 2009 Real Companhia Velha Produced and sold 2012 Real Companhia Velha Produced and sold 2013 Real Companhia Velha Produced and sold

[Adding 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013 Real Companhia Velha.]

Sten Ivarsson sent pictures of Real Cia Velha 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013 for sale in shops in Portugal.

Picture by Sten Ivarsson.


Page 33

Sandeman

1890 Sandeman Produced and sold 1896 Sandeman Produced and sold

Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent pictures of bin labels. One for “Sandiman’s”, bottled by Rayne, unknown Vintage (obvious possibilities including 1890, ’87, ’84, ’81, and ’78) or maybe non-vintage and binned in 1892: height 132.4mm; width 133.2mm; thickness 9.3mm; hole diameter 11.5mm; weight 232.3g.

Also “Port Sandemans 1890”: height 87.0mm; width 92.9mm; thickness 4.2mm; hole diameter 5.5mm; weight 108.3g.

And also “Port Sandemans 1896”: height 86.8mm; width 92.4mm; thickness 4.4mm; hole diameter 5.5mm; weight 118.4g.

Left three pictures by and by kind permission of Darrel Rosander; right by Sten Ivarsson.

1999 Sandeman Produced and sold [Adding 1999 Sandeman.]

Sandeman 1999 exists, as demonstrated by the image sent by Sten Ivarsson.

Smith Woodhouse

1982 Smith Woodhouse Produced and sold [Adding 1982 Smith Woodhouse.]

Smith Woodhouse 1982 exists, as demonstrated by the image sent by Sten Ivarsson.



Page 34

Taylor

1896 Taylor Produced and sold [Adding a bottling of 1896 Taylor by T. Pease & Co.]

Darrel Rosander of the Wine Label Circle sent a picture of a wonderful bin label: “6. Doz. Taylors, 1896.Port” “Bottled by T. Pease, Son Co.” “Bottled 1899”. Height 110.8mm; width 154.7mm; thickness 1.1mm; hole diameter 11mm; weight 50.5g.

1948 Taylor Produced and sold [Adding a bottling of 1948 Taylor by David Sandeman.]

Auctioned by Dreweatts, 26 October 2018, lot 58 being 4 bottles of “1948 Sandeman”, “Damaged capsules”, “Stored in family cellar since bottled”. The wax capsules were embossed “1948”, “D. Sandeman”, but the cork clearly said “Taylor”. Hence it was actually Taylor 1948 bottled by David Sandeman.

1957 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas Produced and sold [Upgrading 1957 Taylor Vargellas from “Unlikely”.]

Corti Brothers Fine Wines, of Sacremento California, in the catalogue dated December 1971 included “Taylor 1957, Quinta de Vargellas, English-bottled” at $7.45 a bottle or $80.46 a case. The table shows US $ prices, in which, for the Vintages ≥1927, the case price a 10% discount on the bottle price.

1963 Taylor Produced and sold [Adding a bottling of 1963 Taylor by Corney & Barrow.]

A Corney & Barrow bottling of Taylor 1963 was tasted at the Boot & Flogger on 10 April 2018. Re the 1963s in general:

PW: My impression is that the ’63s are not showing a ‘second wind’ at this time, with no evidence of any pick-up. The picture for me is that some of the ’63s are ageing gracefully with only a slow decline beyond their prime, while others have declined more much more rapidly. By comparison, the ’66s currently seem to be holding up much better, though clearly a lot of this will be heavily storage dependent, as always.

Re the Taylor 1963 bottled by Corney & Barrow:

PW: A delicious bottle in excellent condition. Full and well balanced with plenty of backbone, quite sweet with red cherries; not quite typical Taylor, but a delicious bottle in excellent condition. Clearly WOTN for me, and for the group was WOTN jointly with the Croft.

JDAW: T63, bottled by Corney and Barrow. Glorious red, 50% opaque. Palate of red cherry, and soft texture. Not the giant it once was, but lovely balance and very long.

1966 Taylor Produced and sold October 2019, in Christie’s Wine Department, was seen a magnum of 1966 Taylor, seemingly bottled in Portugal.

1967 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas Produced and sold The table in 1957 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas includes a late-bottled single-quinta Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1967. The late bottling is unusual, but not quite impossible.

Left; right picture by and by kind permission of Darrel Rosander.

Bottle Case

Cockburn 1967, Lodge bottled 5.29 57.13

Taylor, Quinta de Vargellas 1967, Late bottled 3.50 37.80

Rebello Valente 1967, Moon Year Bottling, Lodge bottled 4.79 51.73

half bottles 2.69 58.00

magnums 9.90 53.46

Taylor 1966, Lodge bottled 3.50 37.80

Rebello Valente 1966, Lodge bottled 4.42 47.76


Rebello Valente 1963, Lodge bottled 6.43 69.52


Taylor 1957, Quinta de Vargellas, English bottled 7.45 80.46


Niepoort 1945, Lodge bottled March 1948 13.20 142.56

Rebello Valente 1945, Lodge bottled 13.20

Taylor 1927, English bottled 17.62 190.30

Taylor 1924, English bottled 13.39 160.68

Fonseca 1920, English bottled 14.40 172.80


Page 35

1998 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas Produced and sold [Adding 1998 Taylor Quinta de Vargellas.]

Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1998 exists. (And doff hat to George Gillham for reporting it.) Indeed, at a blind tasting in The Bung Hole on 6 March 2013 the author not only tasted it, but brought the bottle.

JDAW: TV98, decanted 2pm. Red-red-purple, 80%ish opaque. Nose light, with some dark fruit. Big and silky. Hint of eucalyptus mid-palate. Then dark dark damson fruit. Big. Young and lovely. Flavour biggest late-palate. Chewy. Wants another 10 years in the cellar.

AHB: My first tasting of the 1998 Vargellas, and I was very impressed, happy to have a few tucked away in the cellar for the future. Deep red, still appearing youthful; 80% opaque. Youthful and vibrant nose, full of sharp bramble fruit — very young. Balanced and classy entry; lovely chocolatey tannins. The wine arrives on the palate gently but with a delightful balance and focus. Lingering purple fruit and flowers on the aftertaste and through the long length. Fabulous port — not a blockbuster but with a lovely balance and flavour profile. One to keep for a decade or two. Served blind this was guessed to be Malvedos 1992. 92/100.

Warre

1944 Warre ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1944 Warre.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a picture, alas not of reproducible quality, of a bottle of “Warre’s 1944 Vintage Port Bottled 1947”.

1962 Warre ≈ Produced, perhaps sold [Adding 1962 Warre.]

Four bottles were sold, on 18 Dec 2018 by Hansons Auctioneers, as lot 495. The picture shows that, though described as “Vintage Port”, they were “Late Bottled 1966” — by the modern definition an LBV.

Sten Ivarsson also sent a picture, alas of tiny size, of a bottle of “Warre’s 1962 Vintage Port”.

1963 Warre Produced and sold At Bonhams, on 24 September 2020, part of the eleven-bottle lot 278

might have been bottled by British Transport Hotels:

Warre 1963 (3), UK British Transport Hotels (all with signs of seepage; 2 bin-soiled, damp-stained & torn labels, 1 lacking; embossed wax capsules)

The capsule, also shown on this page, has eccentrically orientated text.

Pictures of label and capsule by, and by kind permission of, Bonhams.

Picture by, and by kind permission of, Hansons Auctioneers.


Page 36

Other Shippers and Brands The Other Shippers and Brands chapter, pp533–548, contains “a little of the evidence of declarations by other shippers. … some vintages might be absent; and typically for each vintage much evidence is not shown.” Here follows, again neither attempting nor claiming completeness, other scraps of information which might be of interest to readers.

1945 Constantino Produced and sold 1950 Constantino Produced and sold 1958 Constantino Produced and sold 1966 Constantino Produced and sold

[Adding 1945, 1950, 1958, 1966 Constantino.]

Sten Ivarsson sent a pictures of Constantino’s Vintage 1945 and 1958, and, not of reproducible quality, of 1950 and 1966. He also a sent a picture of several colheitas including 1896 and 1910, and a “Constantino Vintage 1887 Matured in Wood”, which therefore isn’t Vintage Port. Some of these pictures might have been taken at the July 2011 event whence came the pictures on pp536–7.


1752 Waren Produced and sold [Changing “Maren” on p541 to “Waren”.]

The first letter of the 1752 “Maren” on p541 could be an eighteenth-century upper-case round hand ‘W’, making the shipper Waren not Maren.

Page 37

Addendum: Summary of Data This is an updated version of the table on pp549–551, which summarised the data in the shipper chapters.

Some chapters include multiple brands and sub-brands, and some include Single-Quinta Vintage Ports: this table merges these together. If it is known that any of a chapter’s brands produced a Vintage Port (or VP-like Port), this table has a “ ”. Less than full made-declared-sold is recorded as a “≈”; and doubt as a “?”. The details are in the shipper chapters or in the Addendum.

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1756 ≈

1757

1760 ?

1761 ?

1763 ?

1771 ≈

1772 ≈

1773 ≈

1774 ≈

1775 ≈

1781

1784

1785

1786

1788 ?

1790

1797

1804

1805

1811 ?

1812 ?

1813

1815 ≈ ≈

1816

1817

1820

1821 ?

1822 ?

1825

1827 ? ?

1828

1829

1830

1831

1832

1833

1834

1835

1836 ≈ ?

1837

1839

1840 ? ?

1841 ?

1842 ? ? ?

1843 ? ?

1844 ?

1845 ?

1846 ? ? ?

1847 ? ≈ ?

1848 ?

1849 ?

1850 ?

1851

1852 ? ?


Page 38

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1853 ? ? ?

1854 ? ? ?

1855 ?

1857 ?

1858 ? ? ?

1859 ? ?

1860 ? ? ? ? ?

1861 ? ? ?

1862

1863 ? ? ≈ ? ?

1864 ?

1865 ? ? ? ? ?

1866 ?

1867 ? ? ?

1868 ?

1869 ≈ ?

1870 ≈

1871 ? ?

1872 ?

1873

1874

1875 ? ?

1877 ≈ ?

1878 ? ?

1880 ?

1881

1882 ?

1884 ? ?

1885 ≈

1886 ≈

1887 ? ≈

1888 ≈

1889 ? ? ?

1890 ≈

1891 ≈ ≈ ?

1892 ? ?

1893 ? ≈

1894 ? ? ?

1895 ? ≈ ≈

1896 ? ?

1897 ≈ ?

1899

1900 ? ≈ ? ?

1901 ? ?

1902 ? ? ≈ ≈

1903 ≈ ≈

1904 ? ?

1905 ? ≈

1906 ? ≈ ≈

1907 ≈ ≈

1908 ?

1909 ≈ ≈

1910 ≈

1911

1912 ? ?

1913 ≈

1914 ≈ ≈ ≈ ?

1915 ≈

1916 ≈ ≈

1917 ≈ ? ? ≈ ? ?

1918 ≈

1919 ≈ ?

1920 ? ? ≈

1921 ≈ ? ? ≈ ?


Page 39

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1922 ? ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ? ? ?

1923

1924 ? ≈ ? ? ? ≈

1925 ≈

1926 ≈ ≈

1927 ? ?

1928

1929 ?

1930

1931 ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ?

1932 ≈

1933 ≈ ? ?

1934 ? ≈ ? ≈

1935 ? ? ≈ ? ? ? ?

1936 ≈

1937 ? ? ≈ ≈

1938 ≈ ≈ ≈ ? ≈ ?

1939 ≈ ≈

1940 ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈

1941 ≈

1942 ? ≈ ≈ ≈ ? ?

1943 ≈ ?

1944 ≈ ≈ ? ≈ ≈

1945 ≈ ? ≈

1946 ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈

1947 ? ≈ ? ? ≈ ≈ ≈

1948 ≈ ≈ ≈ ? ? ≈

1949 ≈ ≈

1950 ?

1951 ≈ ?

1952 ≈ ≈ ? ≈

1953 ≈

1954 ? ≈

1955

1957 ≈ ? ?

1958 ≈ ?

1959 ≈

1960

1961 ≈

1962 ≈ ≈ ≈

1963

1964 ? ≈ ?

1965 ≈ ? ≈

1966 ≈ ?

1967

1968 ≈ ≈

1969 ≈

1970 ?

1971 ≈ ≈ ?

1972

1974 ≈

1975 ?

1976

1977 ≈ ≈ ≈

1978 ≈ ? ≈

1979 ? ?

1980

1981 ≈ ?

1982 ≈

1983

1984

1985

1986

Page 40

Vintage Port Notes The following “Vintage Port Notes” were sent by John Crisp, a retired wine merchant. His family’s business, Edward Crisp Ltd, bottled Port at Cumbergate in Peterborough from the late nineteenth century, John Crisp’s last bottling being of the Graham 1963. He is a member of the Peterborough Port Club, which was founded in 1890 and meets at the Great Northern Hotel in Peterborough. We met at a tasting in November 2019, with the March Porters, a set of friends from around the March area of Cambridgeshire who have been drinking Port together since 1978.

Vintage port was traditionally shipped to the UK in long barrels, called Pipes (110 gallons) and Hogsheads (55 gallons) and bottled by individual purchasers, principally wine merchants, but also other large users such as grand houses and colleges.

The 1970 vintage port was the last shipped in bulk and since 1990 Oporto bottling has been mandatory for all port.

Traditionally wine merchants ‘fined’ vintage port before bottling but latterly this practice was abandoned and ‘best practice’ was to roll the casks immediately before bottling.

‘Fining’ is a process whereby collagen in some form or other is mixed with the wine (or other liquid) in order to clarify it. For vintage port the preferred fining agent was egg white, typically 16 whites to a pipe of port.

A side effect of fining wine is that along with the impurities it removes tannin which is essential to the maturing processes.

Traditionally vintage port was bottled straight from the cask bottle by bottle, and closed with a branded ‘full long’ cork of the best quality. Typically English merchants then sealed the cork with wax and impressed their firm’s seal into the hot wax; the colour of the wax and the impressed vintage year would identify the contents of the bottle.

The port would then be binned, an art in itself, and hopefully remain undisturbed till eventually consumed.

Bins typically are wide enough to accommodate double or triple rows of 12 bottles lying horizontally each tier supported by laths under the base of the bottles; as the tiers were built up the bottles received a stripe of whitewash to indicate for posterity the position they had rested in.

Receipt of the Cask On receipt the cask would be dipped to ensure that it was full, a hole for the tap then had to be bored in the head of the cask and sealed with a cork which would be driven into the cask when the bottling tap was inserted. The cask was then set up on the stillage ready for the fining and subsequent bottling.

Fining

My grandfather’s cellar book records the detail of all the wines and spirits he received in bulk and how they were dealt with; the vintage port was fined with egg whites (occasionally it was not fined, but ‘why’ not recorded) other wines were presumably fined with ‘patent finings’ as the quantity is noted as Qt or Pt. Having separated the egg whites they were then whisked up with a jug-full of the port, to break up the white, the mixture was then introduced into the cask and the contents roused with a broom stick through the bung hole to ensure that the finings were evenly distributed in the wine.

Bottling

When the wine was judged to be ready for bottling the tap was driven into the tap hole which had been created. The tap had a long thin spout to enter into the neck of the bottle and the ‘Saveall’ tap had an air vent in the plug which allowed the rapid release of the wine in the spout when the tap was closed. The ‘bottler’ would sit down on a stool with a supply of clean bottles to his side a light (candle, latterly electric) behind the tap to aid judging the moment at which to close the tap to achieve the desired fill level; with port and all wines the level of the wine needs to be just below the base of the cork to ensure a minimum amount of air between wine and cork.

Corking the Bottle

For vintage port the preferred closure was the ‘full long’ cut from the best cork bark and branded with the shippers name and vintage year. When the cork was eventually pulled to decant the port there on the cork would be confirmation of the wine’s identity! To assist the corking process the cork required a bit of lubrication so was soaked in a little bit of the wine to ease its compression and insertion into the bottle. The ram of the corking machine drives the cork down a narrowing channel until it is over the aperture below which the bottle awaits it cork. The operator starts the corks journey through the aperture but stops before it emerges. Why? Compressing the cork squeezes the wine and cork dust out of the cork but this would contaminate the port so the bottom of the cork is dried off. The bottle is then placed in the machine and the cork driven home. With vintage port it is desirable that the cork protrudes slightly above the mouth of the bottle: the plunger which drives the cork is adjusted to give the required protrusion. The filled bottle is now ready for its wax but it must be completely dry before this process can be carried out.


Page 41

Applying the Wax

The wax arrives in sticks which must be melted in a pot over a source of heat. With the wax fluid the bottle neck is dipped into the wax (about 15mm) the bottle is quickly removed and the seal is applied with the embossing tool which is cooled in a bowl of water.

Storage and Maturation It is said that vintage port is at its peak after 21 years, more or less, depending on its vintage and pedigree; to achieve this the port is stored horizontally in a cool cellar and ideally not disturbed till it is ready for consumption.

Storage is in purpose made ‘bins’ which usually are of dimensions which allow rows of12 bottles.

The most important rows are those at the bottom of the bin which determine the stability of the subsequent tiers; the lie of the bottles is adjusted with laths about 8mm thick which support the base and shoulder of the first row of bottles. If the bin is built up with two rows of bottles in each layer the necks of the second row of bottles are supported lying between the bodies of the first row with their bases supported on a pile of laths sufficient to ensure a snug fit. The white wash brush is then passed across the each row. A lath is placed across the bases of the opposing rows of bottles and the second tier of bottles placed; if the first tier has been correctly laid the second and subsequent tiers lie comfortably.

An alternative structure is the ‘scotch tier’, in this the first two rows are placed cork opposite cork and spaced so that a third row of bottles lies supported by the necks of the opposed rows of bottles. Again the construction of the first layer is crucial to the stability of the bin, subsequent layers only having laths supporting the bases of the bottles.

It should be noted that the traditional vintage port bottle used by English bottlers was so dark that it barely transmitted light, the diameter of the bottle tapered from shoulder to base, thus the lath between the tiers compensates for this difference maintaining the bottles equally horizontal all the way up the bin.

John Crisp, December 2019.


Page 42

Addendum: Non-Port

Preface On page ii the Preface says:

Phil Wakely also took the cover photograph at a Bring A Bottle tasting on 23 November 2016.

That photograph, present in an earlier draft, was removed before the final version.

Port Tastings In the chapter on Port Tastings, pp607-8, the pictures of the placemats did not reproduce as well as had been intended. The PDF of those placemats can be found at www.jdawiseman.com/2017/20171129_Calem.pdf, and many more placemats can be found via www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemats_list.html.

Champagne On p621, and repeated below, is a picture of a Champagne order by the future Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith. One of the brands looks like “Gieoler”, and that might be what was written. But likely it was actually “Giesler”, as told to me by George Gillham.

Image by kind permission of Corney & Barrow Ltd (from the 1891–1893 Corney & Barrow order book in The London Metropolitan Archive).

— J. D. A. Wiseman 20:00 on 26 October 2020

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