Offer of Very Old Tawny Port in Bulk

[flash_uk]

Samples have been posted. Should be delivered Monday. £3 each. No rush for payment.

Sterling job Neil, many thanks.

[akzy]

Samples have been posted. Should be delivered Monday. £3 each. No rush for payment.

Cheers Neil. Looking forward to it. Presume some tasting notes to pop up soon?

[Glenn E.]

Samples have been posted. Should be delivered Monday. £3 each. No rush for payment.

Cheers Neil. Looking forward to it. Presume some tasting notes to pop up soon?

Yes, very eager to see everyone's thoughts.

[akzy]

@admin is this the right place?

Dark murky brown. Seems viscous.
Powerful nose. Raisins. Wood. Lovely.

Velvety coating of the mouth. Strong and perfumed in the mouth. Nice candied cherry sweetness but perhaps a bit too cloying after a small glass. Notes also of bitter walnuts. A bit of heat but nothing to heavy. Sweetness lingers a long time.

Quite nice, nothing too special.

Thank you greatly Will and Neil for getting this sample to me.

[flash_uk]

Tasted tonight (doff hat to Neil for mailing a sample).

80% opacity, dull brown.
Very lively nose, molasses.
Hugely concentrated in the mouth, lots going on, acidity is prominent but very balanced, very syrupy, apricots of the tart variety, and a finish that reminds me of quinine port, a dryness and a tonic element to it.

[nac]

For those who received samples what was your opinion of the pouches and letterbox-sized box as a distribution mechanism?

[akzy]

For those who received samples what was your opinion of the pouches and letterbox-sized box as a distribution mechanism?

I've had the pouches before and I think they're great. Not only can you squeeze the air out before (or top up with with argon), they're just not going to get damaged in transport. Solid thumbs up from me.

[PhilW]

For those who received samples what was your opinion of the pouches and letterbox-sized box as a distribution mechanism?

Agree with Zak, worked well here too (thank you). Minimal damage risk, seal seemed good, no obvious taint from the pouch material, and letterbox friendly. Easy to pour from, though I suspect slightly harder to fill?

[PhilW]

With thanks to the vendor, Will for bringing to London, and Neil for sending, I was fortunate to receive my sample yesterday, and tried it last night. My tasting note/thoughts below:

A deep dark brown; clearly old, with long slow legs and matching syrupy texture in the mouth. First mouthful starts a little over-sweet, but then a good dollop of acidity comes in cutting across strongly. Acidity shows almost immediately stronger on second sip, searing across the palette, with thick caramel flavours underneath. Over-sweet finish.

Overall a fascinating port; probably would be better as a component of a very old tawny blend rather than by itself, and seemed over-sweet overall (despite the acidity), so not exactly balanced, but old, tasty and interesting. Would I enjoy drinking it? Yes as a venerable curiosity, though I wouldn't drink much at a time (too sweet); but a fascinating bottle to have/share occasionally perhaps.

I will send my thoughts on pricing to Will privately.

[Will W.]

I will send my thoughts on pricing to Will privately.

Got it Phil and have responded by email.

[Doggett]

Huge thanks to Will for providing the bottle and to the Vendor for the generous chance to try before the commitment to purchase.

Thanks also to Neil for posting the sample which arrived safely. As others have, I have received wine in pouches before, mainly from Blind Faith and have been impressed with the packaging and how easy it is to post.

And now to the port. The below is the note I made for myself. Having read the posts here too, I would agree that it is more of an interesting port than one of high quality. It’s intensity is extraordinary and it is wonderful to drink something about a century old that still delivers on flavour. I agree with the point that it may have been a great port to blend into an aged tawny to give some layers of complexity. I would be interested in purchasing a bottle or two if the price was right but I am not sure what that price is and hope the ‘market price’ will dictate that decision for me. Would be interested in the thoughts of those that had it from the bottle at the B&F. And here are my original thoughts:-

Bill’s Old Tawny or Old Bill’s Tawny
Tasted 24th Jan 2022
Oak Brown with Amber to a greening rim.
Pronounced nose
Sweet entry. Layers of flavour, Molasses, Caramel, some fading dried fruit, spices - nutmeg?, some quinine, aniseed.
This is sweet, maybe too sweet but it is intense with layers of flavour and some complexity. Thick viscous texture that is rich and full in the mouth. The finish is medium + and it dries slightly in the mouth with a sweet liquorice note on the finish. Still very much alive after approx 100 years but past its best I think, would loved to have tried it a few decades ago. Overall a very interesting wine but you would only want a glass or two at a time. I have had similar mouth feels from a very old Valriz 1858 and from a much younger Tokaji 1993 Aszu Essencia. Not for the faint hearted!

[Glenn E.]

I shared the Seattle bottle with 8 people on Saturday, and our impressions follow. 3 are pictures of their tasting notes which I will post separately in case there's a limit on size/etc. of attachments.

My notes:
Color: medium dark brown, not quite opaque in the center but close, some green/gold at the rim, cloudy. If you're familiar with the 64-box of Crayola crayons, think "burnt umber" but somewhat darker.
Nose: moderate vinagrinho, leather. Reminds of an older Krohn.
Palate: strong acidity, a brief umami note, and a fairly pure note of sugar. Hot, but from the acidity not from alcohol. There's some brown sugar, dark caramel, and sweet lime.
Finish: moderate, perhaps short but not clipped. The acidity on the palate basically wipes the finish clean.
Score: 90 points.

This is a reasonable sipping Port, but it's not great. It is an interesting curiosity that was probably better 30 years ago when it was bottled, and would probably be better as a blending component now than it is on its own. The heat - from the acidity - is warming in the throat. The sweetness is pretty straightforward and simple, but does a decent job of balancing the acidity though it is clearly struggling to do so. Both the acidity and the sugar give the impression that they've been bolstered, perhaps right before bottling, because neither seems fully integrated which one would normally expect from a 90+ year old Port. Ultimately it is a Port that is enjoyable to taste once, but not something that I'd stock to have as a daily drinker. I might want to have 2-3 bottles on hand to share with true Port geeks in the future, but even for that wouldn't want to spend more than $100 per bottle. (Note: dollars, not Euros.)

[Glenn E.]

This person stated that they would pay $75 to get a single bottle to have for the future, but wouldn't want more than that even at a lower price.

2022-02-05 16.38.58.jpg (84.99 KiB) Viewed 13805 times

[Glenn E.]

This person enjoyed the experience but wasn't interested in purchasing.

2022-02-05 16.40.12.jpg (77.05 KiB) Viewed 13805 times

[Glenn E.]

This person said that the amount of pleasure derived from the Port was between a 10YO and a 20YO, so if it were around $50 per bottle they might purchase a case. They would not be interested at a higher price, and wouldn't want more than a case even at a lower price.

2022-02-06 13.33.12.jpg (59.72 KiB) Viewed 13805 times

[Glenn E.]

There were 3 others who did not even finish their glasses and weren't interested in buying.

Note that the above yield 2 x 91, 1 x 90, 2 x 89 for an average score of 90.

By the way, the uploader lies. It says a maximum of 500 kb per upload, yet refused these pictures at 250-ish kb each. I had to further reduce them to their current 80-ish kb each, and even then the "select files to upload" button would not work and I had to drag and drop to get them to upload.

[Andy Velebil]

Agree with Glenn. It was a moderate curiosity, rather simple, that is obviously now suffering quite a bit from bottle age, and probably being a bit average before that. I’d be interested in a few as a curiosity. But the price would have to be quite cheap. This is not worth anything near €100. Perhaps €50/bottle max.

[nac]

For those who received samples what was your opinion of the pouches and letterbox-sized box as a distribution mechanism?

Agree with Zak, worked well here too (thank you). Minimal damage risk, seal seemed good, no obvious taint from the pouch material, and letterbox friendly. Easy to pour from, though I suspect slightly harder to fill?

Supplied with a small funnel.

[JohnDavidFrance]

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available?
A very interesting read either way

[nac]

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available?
A very interesting read either way

We didn't progress this as it wasn't great & potentially too expensive.

Will W may have further info. Suggest contacting him directly.

[Will W.]

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available?
A very interesting read either way

We didn't progress this as it wasn't great & potentially too expensive.

Will W may have further info. Suggest contacting him directly.

Yes, the asking price was far too high for what it was, and there was not much point in negotiating with the family as opinions were varied on the wine. I found the wine to be very interesting; others less so. The family's plan, at least when I was last in touch a couple of years ago, was simply to leave the bottles at the quinta. Most certainly, they will not go off anytime soon, given the stratospheric acidity levels. Said family had earlier turned down an offer from a producer (van Zellers, if I recall correctly), I believe to use for blending.

[JohnDavidFrance]

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available?
A very interesting read either way

We didn't progress this as it wasn't great & potentially too expensive.

Will W may have further info. Suggest contacting him directly.

Yes, the asking price was far too high for what it was, and there was not much point in negotiating with the family as opinions were varied on the wine. I found the wine to be very interesting; others less so. The family's plan, at least when I was last in touch a couple of years ago, was simply to leave the bottles at the quinta. Most certainly, they will not go off anytime soon, given the stratospheric acidity levels. Said family had earlier turned down an offer from a producer (van Zellers, if I recall correctly), I believe to use for blending.

Waow, they hold their wine in high regard then! Do you still hold a bottle I could purchase? After reading through the story i became very curious.

[Will W.]

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available?
A very interesting read either way

We didn't progress this as it wasn't great & potentially too expensive.

Will W may have further info. Suggest contacting him directly.

Yes, the asking price was far too high for what it was, and there was not much point in negotiating with the family as opinions were varied on the wine. I found the wine to be very interesting; others less so. The family's plan, at least when I was last in touch a couple of years ago, was simply to leave the bottles at the quinta. Most certainly, they will not go off anytime soon, given the stratospheric acidity levels. Said family had earlier turned down an offer from a producer (van Zellers, if I recall correctly), I believe to use for blending.

Waow, they hold their wine in high regard then! Do you still hold a bottle I could purchase? After reading through the story i became very curious.

I've none, John. However, if you would care to PM me I will dig out the chap's email and you can approach the family directly. His English is good.
Should you come to an agreement with him, I will be happy to collect the wine for you and bring it to London at my next visit.

[Andy Velebil]

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available?
A very interesting read either way

We didn't progress this as it wasn't great & potentially too expensive.

Will W may have further info. Suggest contacting him directly.

Yes, the asking price was far too high for what it was, and there was not much point in negotiating with the family as opinions were varied on the wine. I found the wine to be very interesting; others less so. The family's plan, at least when I was last in touch a couple of years ago, was simply to leave the bottles at the quinta. Most certainly, they will not go off anytime soon, given the stratospheric acidity levels. Said family had earlier turned down an offer from a producer (van Zellers, if I recall correctly), I believe to use for blending.

Turning down an offer from the very experienced tasters and blenders at V.Z., is quite telling. One can assume they had similar opinions as us. Interesting but not compelling on its own. Would have been bought to be blended away into something else. And one can assume the sellers want too much for it.