Crusted port database

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 12:44 Sun 22 Mar 2009

Here is an incomplete list of Crusted ports.

Please post other known Crusted ports, including pre-release stashes seen in the producer's bottle stores, and I will edit accordingly.

Buyers own brand wines are shown in italics.

Arthur Purchase
(1986 - Known to be Churchill)

Avery's of Bristol
(1928 - Known to be Cockburn)

Berry Bros
1938***
(1949 - Known to be Warre)
(1955 - Known to be Warre)
(1959 - both Cockburn and Dow listed)
(1968 - Known to be Taylor)
(1973 - Known to be Taylor)
(1980 - Known to be Smith Woodhouse)
(2002 - Known to be Dow)
(2003 - Known to be Dow)
(2006 - Known to be Dow)

Cálem
1987

Christopher & Co. (Marketed as Crusting port)
1922 ("Princess" blend, including wine dating back to 1868)
1973
1974
(1978 - Known to be Dow)

Churchill
1984
1985
1986
1987
1998
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004

Cockburn
1928
1934
1935
1936
1937
1943
1945
1954
1956
1959
1960
1961
1963
1966
1972
1973
1974
1978
1983
1988

Cockburn & Campbell (Marketed as Crusting port)
1979 - Known to be Quarles Harris

Croft
1954/1960**

Davy
1984***

Dolamore
1974***
1977***
1979***

Dow
1959
1963
1964
1971
1974
1978
1979
1980
1985
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2006

Fells
(1978 - Known to be Dow)

Ferreira
1947
1952/1956**

Fonseca
1927
1928
1970
1996
2001
2004
2005
2006

Fortnum & Mason
(2002 - Known to be Dow)
2001***
(1998 - Known to be Dow)
1986***
(1985 - both Martinez and Graham listed)
(1984 - known to be Churchill)
(1951 - known to be Graham)

Gould Campbell
1980
1987 - 1988 (unclear as to whether one or two bottlings)

Graham
1941
1942
1944
1946
1949
1950
1951
1985
1987
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2006

Graham Malvedos
1956
1957
1958/1960**
1961/1963**
1962/1964**

Guimaraens & Co.
1955
1958

Harrods
(1962 - Known to be Taylor)
(1963 - Known to be Taylor)
(1974 - Known to be Taylor)
(1978 - Known to be Smith Woodhouse)

Henekeys
Reference in 1966/7 catalogue - no bottling date given

Hunt Roope
1952/1957**
1954/1956**

Justerini & Brooks
[1952/1956** - Known to be Ferreira]
[1954/1960** - Known to be Croft]

Kopke
1952

Martinez
1968
1973
1985
1988
1989

Niepoort
2007
2011*

Noval
1961/1964**
1962/1965**

Noval + Nacional
1965 (A quinta blend of the Nacional 1962 and Noval 1963. One pipe only shipped for UK bottling in 1965)

Offley
1947
1958
1965
1966

Peatlings
1989***

Quarles Harris
1979

Edward Sheldon
1981
1983

Smith Woodhouse
1974
1978
1980
1984
1985
1988

Tanners
(2001 - Known to be Churchill)
(2002 - Known to be Churchill)
(2004 - Known to be Churchill)

Taylor
1927
1930 x 2
1952/1956**
1962
1963
1964
1966
1968
1969
1970
1973
1974
1978

Warre
1949
1955
1958
1974
1980
1983
1985

Wine Society
(1927 - Known to be Fonseca)
(1927 - Known to be Taylor)
(1928 - Known to be Fonseca)
(1930 - Known to be Taylor, two wines listed)
(1934 - Known to be Cockburn)
(1936 - Known to be Cockburn)
(1937 - Known to be Cockburn)
(1943 - Known to be Cockburn)
(1955 - Known to be Guimaraens & Co.)
(1956 - Known to be Graham Malvedos)
(1958 - Known to be Guimaraens & Co.)
(1963 - listed as Cockburn but reference to Taylor also known)
(1964 - Known to be Dow)
(1965 - Known to be Offley)
(1969 - Known to be Taylor)
(1970 - Known to be Fonseca)
1972***
(1974 - both Cockburn and Dow listed)
1977***
1985***
1986***
1987***
1990***
(1996 - Known to be Fonseca)
(1998 - Known to be Churchill)
(2001 - Known to be Fonseca)
(2004 - Known to be Fonseca)
(2005 - Known to be Fonseca)

Yates Bros
1972***
1980***
1985***
1989***

Yorkshire Fine Wines
1979***

* Seen in lodge, release date not known
** Single vintage Crusted ports, vintage and bottling date shown
*** Supplier not known

Tom

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 17:04 Sun 22 Mar 2009

The Noval crusted port prepared exclusively from the 1961 vintage was bottled in 1964.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 17:33 Sun 22 Mar 2009

Noted..

JacobH · Post by **JacobH** » 19:03 Sun 22 Mar 2009

I’ve drunk a 1987 Churchill crusted, and I’ve seen a 1986 for sale.

Should we also include Factory House bottles on this list? Tom and I have drunk Christopher’s ’83 and I think a ’55 and ’77 have also been produced.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 19:23 Sun 22 Mar 2009

Should we also include Factory House bottles on this list? Tom and I have drunk Christopher’s ’83 and I think a ’55 and ’77 have also been produced.

I'll add Christopher to the list until we know who supplied them - I know that the Christopher '78 was supplied by Dow

Tom

JacobH · Post by **JacobH** » 19:42 Sun 22 Mar 2009

uncle tom wrote:
Should we also include Factory House bottles on this list? Tom and I have drunk Christopher’s ’83 and I think a ’55 and ’77 have also been produced.
I'll add Christopher to the list until we know who supplied them - I know that the Christopher '78 was supplied by Dow

Opps...sorry...I was referring to the bottle of ’83 British Port Shippers’ Association Crusted which Christopher brought to a tasting at TCP. I didn’t know the existence of Christopher & Co., much less whether they’d produced any Crusteds in those years!

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 21:18 Sun 22 Mar 2009

Christopher & Co were a London bottler and merchant who had the Royal Appointment on their labels in the seventies - I don't know what became of them though..

The Factory House blends count as VP's in my book, not Crusted

Tom

benread · Post by **benread** » 22:40 Sun 22 Mar 2009

You already have my only 2 bottles listed but there is a 1966 Cockburn listed here for sale.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 00:11 Mon 23 Mar 2009

Thanks Ben, I suspect there are many more!

Post by **DRT** » 14:48 Mon 23 Mar 2009

Niepoort oddity discussion split off from this thread at RonieRoots request.

Michael M. · Post by **Michael M.** » 20:33 Fri 27 Mar 2009

Graham's Crusted Port 1987 and 1999

http://www.grahams-port.com/pdfs/AC8_Gr ... eet_EN.pdf

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 01:00 Sat 28 Mar 2009

Thanks for that Michael..!

The producers seem very disinterested in the bottling years, unless they get an award. So far, email requests for lists of bottling years have gone unanswered..

There is also still the intrigue of Crusted port in the nineties - was anything bottled between 1990 and 1997??

Tom

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 17:21 Fri 10 Apr 2009

The first 2005 has appeared on the market, from Fonseca.

So far this is only being offered by The Wine Society.

There is still no sign of any bottlings from 2003.

Tom

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 07:05 Tue 21 Apr 2009

Saw a bottle yesterday from Churchill which was bottled in 1984 - might even be their earliest commercial port released!

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 11:47 Sat 02 May 2009

Thanks for that Alex - the Crusted would not have been released immediately after bottling, and Churchill did declare a 1982 VP that would have been released in '84.

An interesting question to put to Johnny Graham though - what was his very first bottling under the Churchill label?

An entry has appeared in CellarTracker, identifying the existence of a Wine Society Crusted from 1996. That still leaves a five year gap with no recorded bottlings between 1991 & 1995..

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 01:44 Mon 04 May 2009

Christies, South Kensington, sale 5312, 08 Dec 1994, lot 201, was, I believe, ‟Taylor Crusted Port, bottled 1969”. Somebody with the catalogue will hopefully confirm.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 16:52 Wed 06 May 2009

Now updated to include all the Christies sale results available online, going back to 1994.

Curiously, the brand most frequently seen was Taylor.

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 19:24 Wed 06 May 2009

Auction, Connells, Wednesday 30th September 1970, Barwythe House, Studham, Bedfordshire, lot 200(j): 1 Dozen Bottles Taylor’s Crusted Port (Bottled in 1968). Which is already in the list.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 10:08 Thu 07 May 2009

Online auction archives from Sotheby's, Bonhams & Dreweatts now added, including a Dow '91 - the gap closes by another year!

I have a growing suspicion that the Graham Malvedos are actually SQVP's - Graham were a little idiosyncratic with their labelling in the pre-Symington days.

If anyone has a pre-1970 Malvedos VP in their cellar with an original label, perhaps they would have a look at it and report.

Tom

Post by **DRT** » 20:02 Thu 07 May 2009

uncle tom wrote:I have a growing suspicion that the Graham Malvedos are actually SQVP's - Graham were a little idiosyncratic with their labelling in the pre-Symington days.

We have been around that block before and I'm sure the story is posted here or on

somewhere. From memory, Malvedos has always been made from the same grapes but until 1998ish some of those grapes cames from properties adjoining the Quinta but not owned by Graham's. They have now bought all of those vineyards and incorporated them into the quinta so it is only now that the SQVP status can be used.

Derek

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 09:20 Fri 08 May 2009

We have been around that block before and I'm sure the story is posted here or on somewhere. From memory, Malvedos has always been made from the same grapes but until 1998ish some of those grapes cames from properties adjoining the Quinta but not owned by Graham's. They have now bought all of those vineyards and incorporated them into the quinta so it is only now that the SQVP status can be used.

My question is not whether Malvedos was a true SQ or a sub-blend, but whether Graham (who used to label their VP as 'Finest Reserve') were once labelling the Malvedos VP as 'Crusted'

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 19:50 Tue 19 May 2009

A file from the Wine Society mentions three crusteds (with their item numbers):
PT841: Cockburn Crusted 1954
PT61961: Taylor Crusted 1963
PT62081: Cockburns Crusted 1963

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 20:59 Tue 19 May 2009

Noted, thanks.

Do you know if any of these were marketed as "The Society's Own"? If they are, I will cross reference them under the Wine Society heading.

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 21:08 Tue 19 May 2009

I have given you what I currently have. But I can ask for more let me do my vintage work first.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 07:37 Sat 30 May 2009

The Graham 2002 has been added as it has appeared on the listing of a German retailer, but there are yet no UK hits for it on wine-searcher.

It may be that the UK merchants have it already, but have not updated their listings.

There is a strange absence of fanfare when new bottlings of Crusted and LBV are released - a promotional opportunity missed..

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 19:02 Mon 01 Jun 2009

Christie’s, End of Bin Sale, Thursday 21st June 1968, lot 491, wrote: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 · Post by **uncle tom** » 20:17 Sun 05 Jul 2009

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 · Post by **uncle tom** » 18:57 Sun 30 Aug 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 19:39 Mon 21 Sep 2009

From the Wine Society catalogue dated June 1935:

So Taylor bottled a crusted in 1927.

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 18:28 Tue 22 Sep 2009

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

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 20:21 Tue 22 Sep 2009

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 · Post by **uncle tom** » 10:52 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 12:39 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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 · Post by **uncle tom** » 12:51 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 13:11 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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 · Post by **uncle tom** » 13:22 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 13:30 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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).

Post by **Alex Bridgeman** » 17:16 Thu 24 Sep 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 17:31 Thu 24 Sep 2009

AHB wrote: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.

Post by **jdaw1** » 12:46 Wed 14 Oct 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 12:56 Wed 14 Oct 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 19:59 Wed 14 Oct 2009

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”.

Post by **jdaw1** » 16:21 Mon 19 Oct 2009

From the Wine Society catalogue of June 1952:

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

uncle tom · Post by **uncle tom** » 19:53 Mon 19 Oct 2009

Have done..

..thanks Julian

Tom

Post by **jdaw1** » 14:14 Thu 22 Oct 2009

From the Wine Society catalogue dated Spring 1961:

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 14:54 Thu 22 Oct 2009

From the Wine Society catalogue dated Spring 1962:

Post by **jdaw1** » 15:39 Thu 22 Oct 2009

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 · Post by **uncle tom** » 15:48 Thu 22 Oct 2009

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

Post by **jdaw1** » 16:42 Thu 22 Oct 2009

uncle tom wrote: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:

uncle tom wrote: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.

Post by **jdaw1** » 16:53 Thu 22 Oct 2009

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.