Looking for info on a bottle of Borges

[Elva50]

Cleaning out my parents' house and found this bottle...any input? Thanks very much.

[Andy Velebil]

Would appear to be what in today’s world is a Reserve Tawny. It’s an old bottle, very early 1970’s or older best I can tell. That said, old for what is a relatively inexpensive bottle is not a good thing. Appears to be bottom neck or top shoulder, but hard to tell based on angle being held. It should still be drinkable, but don’t expect greatness. Value is next to nothing.

[Elva50]

Thanks Andy, that was exactly what I was looking for...but secretly hoping it was a super special long lost vintage worth tons of money

[uncle tom]

I opened a Borges tawny from the mid eighties earlier this month, and found it beautifully mellow and smooth.

So whilst I agree with Andy that these bottles don't command a premium price, they can drink very well indeed.

If you decide to drink it, decant it first otherwise it's likely to be a bit hazy (although the haze won't spoil the taste). If you don't have a decanter, just use a jug or another bottle - stick a funnel in the top and stick some cheesecloth or a wad of surgical gauze in to catch the sediment.

There's probably a T stopper under that foil which will very likely break as you try to remove it. You might be able to tease it out in one piece, but have a corkscrew handy just in case.

- Best served very slightly chilled, but not cold.

[Andy Velebil]

Tom brings up a good point. These old tawnies often end up with super fine sediment. Perfectly normal part of aging in bottle but it doesn’t look good when disturbed and it goes into suspension. It can take weeks to settle back to the bottom of the bottle. So if you move the bottle and it gets cloudy looking just let it stand upright until clear then carefully open and pour out contents into a decanter.

[JacobH]

Something that interests me about the bottle is the three crowns at the bottom of the label which I'm pretty sure would have been branded onto the barrel as an identifying mark. Have a look at this post for some examples including another Triple Crown from Croft (which is still made today).