1907 Unknown

Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Tasting notes for individual Ports, with an index sorted by vintage and alphabetically.
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
Location: Berkshire, UK

1907 Unknown

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

From magnum. The glass of the magnum was dimpled and appeared to be old, the seal was of brittle black wax and was stamped with the single word ""PORT"". The wax of the seal appeared to be consistent with the age of the bottle. Stencilled on the bottle was ""W.W.W 1907"". If this was a port from 1907, this was only shipped by Sandeman, Terra Feita and Vargellas.

Very dark mature red in colour, but with a clear and transparent centre. Some bottle stink on the nose, but not enough to put you off tasting. The initial impression on the palate was of a wine which had dried out, with little fruit but some pleasant enough flavours and some modest complexity. Dry aftertaste, short in length. The overall impression was of a wine which was dried out and tired, but pleasant enough. 82/100. Drunk 17 Dec 2009.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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JacobH
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Re: 1907 unknown vintage port

Post by JacobH »

AHB wrote:Very dark mature red in colour, but with a clear and transparent centre. Some bottle stink on the nose, but not enough to put you off tasting. The initial impression on the palate was of a wine which had dried out, with little fruit but some pleasant enough flavours and some modest complexity. Dry aftertaste, short in length. The overall impression was of a wine which was dried out and tired, but pleasant enough. 82/100. Drunk 17 Dec 2009.
I enjoyed this more than AHB (perhaps he was is being a bit overcritical of his own bottle :wink:). I thought it ended up being quite nicely balanced with some interesting fruit despite its great age.
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Andy Velebil
Quinta do Vesuvio 1994
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Re: 1907 unknown vintage port

Post by Andy Velebil »

I've seen "W's" used in cellars for old tawny's and typically it refers to a very old wine. IIRC each "W", or a portion thereof, means a certain amount of years. Is it possible this was a tawny or colheita of some sort?
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Alex Bridgeman
Graham’s 1948
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Joined: 13:41 Mon 25 Jun 2007
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Re: 1907 unknown vintage port

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

That's very interesting news. It is possible that it was a tawny, although that was not the impression that I had. My guess was that this was a private bottling and this particular bottle (or bottling) belonged to someone whose initials were WWW.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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DRT
Fonseca 1966
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Re: 1907 unknown vintage port

Post by DRT »

This discussion on :ftlop: provides a possible explanation of what this is.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
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