cockburn

Two from Portugal

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

1975 Cockburn VP

1975 Cockburn Vintage Port

Served blind. Amber tawny colour, and clearly old (early 80s?). Roses, light mocha, sugared almond; palate less fragile than expected; spirit is holding this wine together. Unveiled – a modest VP year, a modest producer, but a triumph to have survived damn near 50 years. Certainly its been better in the past, but no shame, and no problems drinking my share!

Drink up, 91 points

2000 fonseca

2000 Fonseca Vintage Port 20.5%
Medium ruby colour; very floral with blueberry, roses and violets, spice notes too; palate is bright and crisp, very supple and civilized, dark red fruits, almond sugar, refined tannins and beautifully judged spirit. Enormous drinkability too. (This was a much better result than the bottles tasted in October 2023!)

Drink to 2035, 95 points

Two local, two not

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2003 Ch La Tour Blanche 13%
Sauternes.
Deep gold colour; then citrus, minerals, quince, marmalade, apricot and stonefruit. Palate shows all this, plus some frangipani and balanced bitterness. Oak becomes more prominent with time, and a little more acidity would be welcome, but given its age and monster VFM, this was a damn enjoyable drink (and an insane 178 g/l rs).

Drink to 2028; 92 points

Seppelt Show Vintage Port GR151/153 20%
Barossa/McLaren Vale (tasted blind)
Bricky mature colour; VP style with high for style alcohol. Mellow, mocha, brown spices and nutmeg, liquorice and yet still with crispness and plenty of tannin to hold interest. Reasonably sweet, but lots of savouriness too. Hmm, first thought was Oz, but the ripeness, spirit quality, tannin and alcohol wrongly diverted me to Portugal. I punted on around 1990. The reveal proved it to be 45 years old, and a label covered in bling. Excellent wine (and I was fortunate to taste the slightly better bottle).

Drink to 2030 – 93 points

1949 saltram white port

1949 Saltram Show White Port 19.5%
Barossa Valley, Bottle #0934 (tasted blind)
Bricky, lots of raisin, and a spice-bucket with rancio, and plentiful vanilla, so a Tawny style. High quality spirit. My guess was 20 years in oak. The reveal was that this wine spent 30 years in small oak,  released in the 1980s and unusually was a blend of Pedro, Grenache, Takay and Verdelho, so based on white grapes. A curio for sure, The back label contained a lot of information about aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, but further wine detail was scanty (plus the cork was very ordinary).

Drink now, 90 points (more if you like the style)

2000 cockburn canais

2000 Cockburn Quinta dos canais Vintage Port 20%
Portugal, and another producer I can’t recall tasting before (a 1955 tried in 2015 was faulty).

Dense colour, then fig, plum, dark cherry plus voluminous spices. Concentrated, fruit-driven with moderate tannins, blueberry, Sweeter than most Portuguese, but with the power to thrive. Just some “burnt” characters for me that didn’t bother the other tasters one jot. Plenty of time ahead.

Drink to 2035, 92 points

10 decades of (Portuguese) Vintage Port

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

This turned out to be extremely educational about the longevity of this style. 10 different houses, and some great comments from the organisers and a contingent of winemakers from Rutherglen. Certainly its unusual for me try more than one VP at a session. Far from easy task locate these, and we suffer in Australia from vagaries of shipping and storage. All wines were decanted for about 3 hours, and we’re looking at single bottles as they were on the night. The oldest Portuguese VP I recall is the wonderful 1970 Fonseca, with the oldest Australian versions I’ve tried include a 1956 Hardy and a 1957 Lindemans. An observation  was made at the tasting that Australia was intent on moving to a drier, more Portuguese style with greater use of Portuguese grape varieties (rather than our traditional Shiraz). There was less agreement of whether the Portuguese had made any concessions to early drinking or more approachable VP’s.

As it happened the 3 oldest wines fared brilliantly. I had feared they might be historical curios, but they were defiantly truly alive.

2012 Quinta do Noval

Not many declared 2012 especially since 2011 turned out so well.

Dense red black with purple tints; this is highly perfumed and floral – blueberry and violets and black fruits. It surprisingly approachable, but the tannins are very fine and persistent. Red liquorice and some headsy spirit. But not the magic of 2011. Score 93+, but no doubt this will live longer than I suspect.

2000 Croft

Slightly murky colour, Slightly grubby bouquet with some cough syrup and cocoa; palate is better. The spirit holds this together, and kicks in vigorously at the finish. Score 90

1997 Fonseca

Medium red, spices, grainy tannins, sweeter style on the palate. Score 91

1983 Taylor’s

Clear ruby colour, with some floor-polish aromas, seems pretty straightforward on the palate. Score 91

1977 Grahams

Clear pale ruby. Lots of rose petal, toffee/coffee/ jersey caramel. Brisk with spirit making a terrific contribution. Graham is reputed as a sweeter style, but its not out of place. Lovely now but will keep for a long time yet, such is its balance. Score 95

1960 Warres

Looking forward to this, but TCA has made an unwelcome appearance. Kept for 55 years and ruined by cork taint.

1955 Cockburn

This was also ruined, but whether oxidation or other issues was debated by the group. Certainly faulty.

1947 Delaforce

Ruby colour with some orange tints. Starting to look like an old tokay. Citrus peel and salted mixed nuts, spirit a bit hot, but lovely drinking. Score 94

1935 Sandeman’s

Ruby colour, dried fruits and plums, vanilla, and toffee. Fleshy, subtle, singing. Score 94

1927 Dow’s

Amber colour; scents of green olive, orange peel and chocolate covered peanuts (one of my favourite indulgences). Could drink this all night. Score 96