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Decanted at 2pm for the annual Acker Merrall BYOB party, this year to be held at Maloney & Porcelli, starting 7pm today. For quality-control purposes a small sample was drawn two hours after decanting. More transparent than I would have liked, though the hue satisfactorily brick-red. The heat very noticeable during decanting has gone, leaving a soft port smell without noticeable oddities. Candied sugar, maybe. In the mouth the heat returns, very strongly, but after that has faded the length is excellent. Tasting of long soft old port: no spice; well-melded sugar; no particular fruit; no must; and, right at the end, deliciously sticky. Entirely satisfactory.

I love the '63 Croft and have had it many times usually it's a hit with everyone and the price on the bottles is decent as well! I'm sure I'll be having another bottle soon along with a few others but
I'm curious to hear the final results on your '63 Julian.

These BYOB parties are all about sharing. So I put in one my glasses a goodly measure of C63, and shared the bottle with many. A small sip suggested that, since the quality-control sample, it had become richer and had lost its heat. Very good.

Later in the evening, long after the only bottle of port in the room had been emptied, and as I was about to enjoy my port, I heard a rumour of a different table with multiple vintages of d’Yquem. My glass of port was exchanged for the end of their 1986 d’Y. So I don’t really know in full how the port developed.

Julian,

could you please give me an advice about decanting time on this, because the C63 is my christmas-port this year.

Axel

Six to eight hours would have been perfect.

jdaw1 wrote:Six to eight hours would have been perfect.

I agree with this. The Croft 63 that Simon Lisle and I shared last month was decanted for around this length of time.

Derek

A wonderful port as are most Croft vintages. We had a 63 horizontal a few months ago and Croft lagged a little behind Taylor and Fonseca, but we did open the Croft a few hours later. I have had the 63 Croft 24+ and it was still showing pretty well; soften but not dead.