ThePortForum.com

Whilst most auction houses seem to be shut, Gorringes, conveniently not too far from me, is still open. I saw that they had this bottle of 1932 Gonzalex Byass Port up for sale on 20th April 2020. I was confused that the label had an addition of "Bottled 1935 and decanted for shipment 1970". What exactly do they mean by 'decanted for shipment' and what did they do to it?

As some of the savvier readers will be wondering if I plan to bid on it - probably not. Go nuts.

The bottle paint seems very crisp.

Someone, somewhere, has a stash of this and keeps drip feeding them into the auction circuit. Without knowing who they are and where this stash came from, I would advise avoiding these..

"Bottled 1935 and decanted for shipment 1970" implies this was made in a way which we would now term garrafeira — made from grapes picked in 1932, put into large glass storage jars in 1935 for slow maturation and then put into 75cl bottles in 1970.

AHB wrote: ↑08:46 Thu 23 Apr 2020 "Bottled 1935 and decanted for shipment 1970" implies this was made in a way which we would now term garrafeira — made from grapes picked in 1932, put into large glass storage jars in 1935 for slow maturation and then put into 75cl bottles in 1970.

Ah OK. I thought that garrafeira was a common term back then?

Back in those days, I believe "garrafeira" was mainly used in its literal sense of "vintage" as opposed to meaning a specific style of Port which involved aging in barrel, demijon and bottle.

That's my queries cleared up. Thanks Alex.