1970 Royal Oporto (Real Companhia Velha) Vintage Port
Posted: 01:19 Tue 08 Sep 2009
Decanted at 11:00 am for a late lunch at 1:00 pm. The cork was in pristine condition - so much so that the Selo band over the top of the cork wasn't stained in anyway, nor was it even stuck to the cork. A stamped metal capsule was covered by a stamped hard wax capsule, and both appeared to be in excellent condition.
My cork removal skills failed, unfortunately, as I neglected to insert the (rather short) corkscrew far enough to grab the entire cork. The bottom 1/3 broke off, so I pushed it into the bottle and decanted through a stainless steel mesh filter.
1970 Royal Oporto (Real Companhia Velha) Vintage Port
Color: More tawny than red, and fairly light. It gives the distinct impression of a very old, very mature vintage Port.
Nose: A strong impression of honey is followed by sweet grapes and soft red fruits. Very slightly spirity, but not so much that it interferes. This all changed after 5 hours as the honey and fruits nearly vanished and the nose became spirity.
Palate: Very soft and elegant with a very faint smokey note. There's more "sweet" to it than anything else, but it's not a pure sugary sweetness but rather the remains of a sweet fruit compote. Some caramel in the mid palate. Rather light body weight, and mildly spirity. Some faint tannins are still present, but just barely hanging on. Only light acidity as well, so this probably doesn't have many more years left.
Finish: Warm but short, with only faint fruits and light tannins. Very late impression of green apples.
Score: 82. Drink now, as it is fully mature and quite probably fading. A pleasant bottle all around. Don't be scared off by the 82 - it's still a good bottle of Port and quite a steal for the $30 I paid. In fact, I went back and purchased the last 2 bottles that Benchmark Wine Group had in stock.
My cork removal skills failed, unfortunately, as I neglected to insert the (rather short) corkscrew far enough to grab the entire cork. The bottom 1/3 broke off, so I pushed it into the bottle and decanted through a stainless steel mesh filter.
1970 Royal Oporto (Real Companhia Velha) Vintage Port
Color: More tawny than red, and fairly light. It gives the distinct impression of a very old, very mature vintage Port.
Nose: A strong impression of honey is followed by sweet grapes and soft red fruits. Very slightly spirity, but not so much that it interferes. This all changed after 5 hours as the honey and fruits nearly vanished and the nose became spirity.
Palate: Very soft and elegant with a very faint smokey note. There's more "sweet" to it than anything else, but it's not a pure sugary sweetness but rather the remains of a sweet fruit compote. Some caramel in the mid palate. Rather light body weight, and mildly spirity. Some faint tannins are still present, but just barely hanging on. Only light acidity as well, so this probably doesn't have many more years left.
Finish: Warm but short, with only faint fruits and light tannins. Very late impression of green apples.
Score: 82. Drink now, as it is fully mature and quite probably fading. A pleasant bottle all around. Don't be scared off by the 82 - it's still a good bottle of Port and quite a steal for the $30 I paid. In fact, I went back and purchased the last 2 bottles that Benchmark Wine Group had in stock.