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Hi All, I wonder if you can help. My brother has today given me a bottle of port he got from a house clearance. There is a suggestion that it could be either Smith and Woodhouse or Taylors from the late 60's or early 70's. The bottle is unlabeled and the only marking is on the cap 'W.1081' Please see attached photos.

I realise this isn't much to go on but am wondering if anyone is able to suggest what it might be, and also if it's likely to be ok to drink after dinner on Tuesday? It's spent today rattling about in a car so I've now got it in the wine rack to settle, will a couple of days be long enough? Assuming yes, is it ok to filter it through some muslin or something when decanting?

Any advice or info gratefully received!

Cheers
Ed

If it is any of the things you suggest, it will be very fine. Drink it, with pleasure and a loved one.

It appears to have a T-cork (see the serrated sides on the top). If so, this would be a cheaper Port. Something like an LBV or Ruby Reserve, etc. Depending on how it was stored, it may still be at least decent. Hope for the best when you open it but prepare for the worst with a backup bottle at the ready in case it's not so good.

As for producer, that would be almost impossible to tell from this bottle alone for older things, especially early 1970's and prior. I will say the roundness of the bottle reminds me of Cockburn's Special Reserve but since it doesn't have the logo molded on probably not (I can't recall when they started using the molded logo bottles).

Drinking; Even a cheap Port will eventually throw some small amount of sediment. Which could be tiny amount of very fine or lots of course depending on the level of filtration and stabilization it may have received during bottling. I'd stand upright for a few days then decant into a decanter and see how she is.

As for age; It appears to be a bit more modern, so I'd hazard a guess mid 1970's through eighties???

As Andy mentions, since this bottle has a T-stopper, this will be a port which was originally intended for immediate drinking, such as a simple ruby, ruby reserve, or a filtered LBV. Such ports were not intended for aging in the bottle, and will degrade slowly over time, however as long as stored well they will still be ok to drink; depending on the age, they may still be ok, or may have degraded to somewhat sugary water.

I concur with Andy's advice to decant (just in case, though it likely won't be needed) and have something else available as back-up.

Hi All, Thanks for the info. It's a shame it doesn't sound as good as I'd hoped but we shall give it a go on Tuesday (with another bottle in reserve just in case!) and hope it's survived.

Happy Christmas!
Ed

Excellent. Please do let us know how it went.

Hi All, Gave it a go yesterday and it was, unfortunately, undrinkable. Lots of sediment in the bottle, very thin and light in colour, not a pleasant flavour . Still, it was worth a try!

Instead we had an Australian 'port' style liqueur that was pretty good and a traditional Applejack (fortified to about 20% from cider by freezing out the water) that went brilliantly chilled with cheddar.

Cheers!
Ed

EdB wrote: ↑09:22 Wed 26 Dec 2018 Hi All, Gave it a go yesterday and it was, unfortunately, undrinkable. Lots of sediment in the bottle, very thin and light in colour, not a pleasant flavour . Still, it was worth a try!

Sorry to hear that. But, as you say, worth a try.

Bummer, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose with older bottles. but one never never knows until they try. Thanks for the update.


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A shame, but not surprising; always worth a try. Glad you had a second bottle handy, and enjoyed that one. Thank you for coming back and letting us know.