Crusted port database

[jdaw1]

Taylor Crusted Port
Bottled 1964. Black wax seals. (11)

Cockburn ‟Dry Tang” White Port (12)

Twenty-three bottles sold for 160/- per dozen.

Taylor Crusted 1964 is already on the list though.

[uncle tom]

A magnum coming to auction this Saturday in Lincoln (Thos. Mawer & Son) provides more evidence to suggest that early Malvedos SQVP's were labelled as Crusted ports

- I have yet to find pre-Symington Malvedos labelled as 'vintage'

http://www.the-saleroom.com/catalogues/ ... Id=7313026

Tom

PS - I won't be chasing this bottle, should anyone want to have a punt..

[uncle tom]

I was beginning to think that there had been no bottling of Crusted by Dow in 2001, as I could find no offers or TN's, and all the other recent years (up to 2002) have been well distributed and reported.

However, I found this .pdf which indicates a silver medal for the 2001 (awarded back in 2006)

http://www.dows-port.com/files/file/Dow ... t%20EN.pdf

I'll therefore add it to the list - but has anyone seen a bottle?

The article also makes reference to the 2003, but no sign of distribution so far.

Tom

[jdaw1]

From the Wine Society catalogue dated June 1935:

So Taylor bottled a crusted in 1927.

[uncle tom]

Thanks for that Julian - is there any indication as to what differentiates the first two?

Tom

[jdaw1]

I know of HR and HF (consistent with WS’s coding of other ports) only what we can both see. That section of the catalogue changed infrequently. There follow some other extracts.

From the Wine Society catalogue dated October 1929:


From the Wine Society catalogue dated December 1931:


From the Wine Society catalogue dated June 1933:

[uncle tom]

Julian,

Do the catalogues offer any clues as to what is meant by HE - HR - HF ?

Can't help thinking there must be a key somewhere..?

Tom

[jdaw1]

All Wine Society bottlings had a code, presumably used for ordering and then for internal administration. With (so far) one exception each code references one port. Codes seem to have been allocated in approximately alphabetical order, so HE was probably the port they bought after HD (which happens to have been Croft 1924). The only vintage port for which the code was numeric appeared in the first preserved catalogue, so I suspect that the WS switched from numeric to alpha codes in the 1880s.

Rephrased, there is a key and you can see it.

[uncle tom]

OK, so you reckon that it's no more than a serial number in letter form.

But the HE and HF Fonseca appear in the 1929 catalogue as 5 years in bottle, yet when they appear in the 1931 catalogue they are still 5 years..

..come 1933 they have caught up a little, and the HF is now listed as 8 years..

Ho hum..

.. Does the WS still have it's old bottling records, so we can see when these wines were actually bottled?

Tom

[jdaw1]

WS has many records.

I have been tracking VP only, and it seems that one code is one port. However, a port can disappear from the catalogue (usually after a hand has drawn a line through it in the last catalogue in which it appears, suggesting ‘sold out’), and then reappear at a higher price some while later. So one code can reference a sequence of pipes or of bottlings.

I have not been tracking it closely for non-VP sorry.

[uncle tom]

I have been tracking VP only, and it seems that one code is one port. However, a port can disappear from the catalogue (usually after a hand has drawn a line through it in the last catalogue in which it appears, suggesting ‘sold out’), and then reappear at a higher price some while later. So one code can reference a sequence of pipes or of bottlings

I wonder if the line drawn through might mean 'we've sold enough for now, we'll re-offer the remains at a higher price in a few years time'

Have you found any clues as to why some have numbered codes and others have letters?

Tom

[jdaw1]

Noval 1875, for sale in the first catalogue I have (Dec 1880), had code ‟11”. Cockburn 1870 had code ‟K” in 1891 and March 1892; from June 1892 until last appearance in October 1893 it was ‟KK”. In September 1950 ‟KK” was used for Dow 1924, the only such re-use of a code yet seen (picture). All other VPs had unique two-character alpha codes (at least until the catalogues of 1950).

[Alex Bridgeman]

Perhaps the codes are bin labels? References to where to find the bottles in whatever cellars the WIne Society used to store their ports.

[jdaw1]

Perhaps the codes are bin labels? References to where to find the bottles in whatever cellars the WIne Society used to store their ports.

I know of a VP of which the Wine Society bought 10 pipes: that would be a big bin. But I agree that the warehouse probably used the same codes.

[jdaw1]

Harrods, Wines & Spirits, Summer 1964: ‟Taylor (crusted) bottled 1962, 20/-”. [My ref 01917.]

[jdaw1]

Harrods, Wines & Spirits, Summer 1965: ‟Taylor (crusted) bottled 1963, 23/-”. [My ref 01923.]

[jdaw1]

Harrods, Wine List Winter 1979/80 [my ref 02004], under the title ‟Crusting Port”:
• ‟Smith Woodhouse Bottled 1978 £5.00”;
• ‟Taylor Bottled 1974 £5.70”.

[jdaw1]

From the Wine Society catalogue of June 1952:

All of Cockburn 1934 1936 1937 1943 are missing from the list: please add.

[uncle tom]

Have done..

..thanks Julian

Tom

[jdaw1]

From the Wine Society catalogue dated Spring 1961:


(No, I don’t know what the * is. They might mean ‘New in this catalogue’.)

[jdaw1]

From the Wine Society catalogue dated Spring 1962:

[jdaw1]

From the Wine Society catalogue dated Spring 1964:

I suspect that the Quinta Mileu is LBV, but thought you might wish to judge for yourself.

[uncle tom]

Julian,

Definitely an LBV

Indeed, is this the earliest reference to Late Bottled Vintage in a merchant's catalogue?

- And will you edit the Wiki entry, or shall I..?

Tom

[jdaw1]

Indeed, is this the earliest reference to Late Bottled Vintage in a merchant's catalogue?

Depends on whether you are restricting it to things described as LBV.

From the Wine Society catalogue, November 1952:

And will you edit the Wiki entry, or shall I..?

Please do so in accordance with the grammatical and punctuation conventions used by those aware of them.

[jdaw1]

From the Wine Society catalogue dated February 1965:

Likewise, I suspect that the Roncao 1944 bottled 1948 is late-bottled, but by the standards of the day not late by much. However, the Malvedos 1959 definitely goes in the list.

(For these purposes this extract exhausts my Wine Society source.)

Next post on new page: quote appropriately.