1970 Warre

[SushiNorth]

1970 Warre (Quarle Harris?) Vintage Port
NYC 1970 VP Tasting Review: 1970 Cockburn, 1970 Dow, 1970 Fonseca, 1970 Graham, 1970 Taylor, 1970 Warre, Arrangements, Placemats

[g-man]

This smelled funky on the nose and was noted by chris as such and agreed by everyone else.

I wrote light, slight cardboardy, burned woodiness on the nose.

It was spicy rich full and sweet but not discernable with fruit.

I marked this as 86 at first, but as others got the funkiness too, we wrote down that this was probably corked.

[SushiNorth]

Here is the cause of the confusion, the cork from the bottle labeled Warre 1970:


The bottle on the LEFT (SY-153405-1) was the bottle we opened. It's from a six-pack I purchased from a relatively reliable consigner (all have been what they said, though quality has been mixed). The bottle on the Right (SY-153413-1) was from the same purchase and likely the same case/source.


I don't have the original closure from the bottle we opened, but the closures on all bottles were identical. Here is the closure on the bottle on the RIGHT.


Here is the molded glass brand on the bottle we opened:


Here is the Garantia from the bottle we opened:

[g-man]

Paul Symington says
"The IVDP seal on this bottle shows that it was shipped from our cellars in 1985 or 1986.
What you had was Warre's 1970 as it was in a branded Warre bottle that we had especially made.
In the 1970's very occasionaly a random cork would find its way into the wrong batch delivered by the cork manufacturer, this is what must have happened.
Sorry about this, but as I was at school when this happened, I blame my ancestors!"

[Chris Doty]

Nose smelled just like the inside of a new basketball shoe. Reminded me of being at Footlocker circa 1996. Mouthfeel was round and with some amount of spice/heat, but really no 'flavor', and certainly no fruit. Corked (not rated). A shame, as I have enjoyed this wine considerably when it is on its game.

I'm grateful that Paul cleared up the curious issue of the wrong cork. The Symingtons are top flight people, and they clearly take incredible care (and well deseved pride) in their wines.