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Andy Velebil

Niepoort has just declared their VP today.

Andy Velebil

Was buying some antique metal boxes and saw this and at €4.50 will make excellent gravy. Anyone familiar with this? IIRC it's a fine 10 Year Old Tawny. Gilbert's was once independent, but passed through the hands of Amorim (yes, the cork company) before now being owned by Sogevinus. I have a vague ...

Andy Velebil

PhilW wrote:
Andy Velebil wrote: ↑13:41 Tue 24 Feb 2026 What does “Unrecorded” mean?
From Oscar's youtube video description for this wine, this is tawny from a barrel for which there are no records (whether never recorded, or records lost).

Ah, ok thanks.

Andy Velebil

What does “Unrecorded” mean?

Andy Velebil

I’ve been once. Many years ago. It was, interesting to say the least. No prices on anything and it seemed to change based on what they thought you’d pay. Ports were, shall we say, average at best. I’ve never been back. Nor have I ever recommended it to anyone. Just my experience and two cents.

Andy Velebil

Hi Terry,

I agree with the other three posters. Unfortunately, your bottles are not collectable and not worth much money. As mentioned, if you know of someone to give them to would be my recommendation.

Andy Velebil

Raises hand of availability.

Andy Velebil

That’s a cool back story. Thanks.

Andy Velebil

Alex Bridgeman wrote:How lovely to think of Dow 1977 as being the perfect point for drinking at the age of 22...

Was thinking the same when I read that. But guess better young than never?

Andy Velebil

winesecretary wrote:I think someone has stolen our Alex and replaced him with a bot.

For sure.

Andy Velebil

Was lucky to have had that 1952 a number of times. Absolutely fabulous Colheita!

I too have an empty of it still.

Andy Velebil

…Harvey’s 1954 (identify clear from capsule and cork)… Just for information, Harvey’s 1954 is actually a full Graham blend. A small parcel (2 pipes, I think without checking my notes) of it was made. One was kept by the Symingtons for a child born in 1954 and one sent to Harvey’s as they (or maybe ...

Andy Velebil

Whitwams Millennium Port. (A Christiano Van Zeller and Dirk Niepoort collaboration back in 1999). Pretty spectacular.

Andy Velebil

Those are some very nice wines. Surprised to see a Quinta das Bágeiras there, they're not very well known wines outside of Portugal but they are excellent. Discovered them earlier this year, very glad I did, great wines indeed. They make some fabulous wines. Glad you discovered them. They age very ...

Andy Velebil

Congrats on the new vintage!

Andy Velebil

2015 Vesuvio Douro needs a good long decant. I opened a bottle at home a week or so ago that was fabulous and showed much better than this one did.

Andy Velebil

Fabulous write up and visit!

Andy Velebil

$80 for a 1963 is not very flattering. No it's not. I think this wine is appraised quite good and the bottles are in great condition. I believe 250 EUR sound more like the right direction for a bottle of 60+ years of age. Hopefully they can be bought and enjoyed by the right buyer. Just because som...

Andy Velebil

Hi - i am reaching out today as I was offered to sell 6 bottles of the Vintage port. The bottles are in great condition considering the age - but don't have any paper work attached. The wines are currently not offered any where online, so I was thinking this is a. great place to start. What do you ...

Andy Velebil

I have owned and still have the better of a case of these. I’ve had many times. Don’t know the offering price. If good then a deal. If not then not a deal. It’s a bit past maturity but still offers a pleasant drink. Though nothing to write home about.

Andy Velebil

Without realising it, I have just undertaken a sense check of my "normal" scores against my "DWWA scale" score. One of the wines I tasted at the DWWA was the Ferreira 10YO White. On 9th May, I gave this a score of 88/100 - which was a silver medal - categorising it as a wine whi...

Andy Velebil

Lovely write up, thank you it was a good read.

Andy Velebil

jdaw1 wrote:Is muslin sterile?

No. And neither are the toes that stomped those grapes

Andy Velebil

Excellent write up!

Andy Velebil

IIRC, the Advent calendar bottles are, or at least were, all hand bottled. So there can be some bottle variation compared to larger bottles done on a mechanical bottling line. If all things are constant, the larger the bottle the slower the aging process. However, if things aren’t constant that coul...

Andy Velebil

Who bottled this? Or is make an actual producer?

Andy Velebil

From half Pop and decant and pour Colour still 97% impenetrable, red rim, still glass coating, Confit black cherry nose Lovely smooth cool blue fruit palate, with some red and then black fruit later, but there’s so much density to the fruit that the tannins (which are there, the structure is admira...

Andy Velebil

Will be nice to have an alternative to the Yeatman. And without that long uphill walk in the warmer months as well. Thanks for review.

Andy Velebil

Both Rummy’s and Harry’s bottles specify “Bottled in Oporto in 1987 by Sogevinus Fine Wines, S.A”, whereas the pictures of the other bottles specify “Bottled in Oporto in 1987 by A. A. Cálem & Filho, Lda.” or “Bottled in Oporto in 1987 by A. A. Cálem & Filho, S.A.”. I thought Sogevinus was ...

Andy Velebil

They late released a bunch of this around 4-ish years ago or so. There was/is a bunch for sale at the Calem Lodge in Gaia. I bought a bunch a few years ago when it was much cheaper than now.

Your bottle looks real to me.

Andy Velebil

I think he's trying to say that Calém VPs have a consistent profile, which is the opposite of what you tasted in that particular bottle. (edited for terrible grammar) 1985 Calem VP rocks. It’s largely an unknown star from the vintage. They were selling it at the Calem Lodge for ~€50 a few years ago...

Andy Velebil

Thank you for all your replies. Plenty of reasons to be suspicious but why would anyone go to all this effort? Seems like I need to see what the cork says! Very sorry but work prevents me from being able to meet on 2 April. I am happy to bring the bottle to a tasting later this year. I also have a ...

Andy Velebil

Pretty sure they stopped using the AJdS as producer before 1979 vintage (1981 by the time this would have been bottled). IIRC, I think 1970 vintage (or so) was last year to list producer as AJdS. No Selo or any sign of a previous one. Weird type set and only listed as “Noval”, no Quinta do. Generic ...

Andy Velebil

One has to be careful of applying today’s labeling terms to these old bottles. Odds are it was a more basic or mid level Tawny. Color would indicate past its best days.

Andy Velebil

Sorry chaps for reviving an old thread, but what happened with this sale? Was a sale agreed by the family? Are there bottles available? A very interesting read either way [emoji106] We didn't progress this as it wasn't great & potentially too expensive. Will W may have further info. Suggest con...

Andy Velebil

When opening, don’t use any Ah-So or Durand. They will destroy the sides and thus the possibility of identifying. Push the cork in, then after pouring contents into decanter, bag out the cork. Some observations. Weird wax. Looks like a layer on top of another layer. And weird shape. Given the possib...

Andy Velebil

Very nice review! I do need to explore their Ports more, haven't had one in many years. Alas, not easy to find near me.

Andy Velebil

Well done!

Andy Velebil

That’s cool!

Andy Velebil

That's a strange policy change. It's not even cost effective, they're wasting man hours opening cases and transferring bottles to their own cases. Very strange. It would infer that they’ve had a more than insignificant issues with bottles breaking in transit in OWC’s. Switching to a safer shipping ...

Andy Velebil

2022 is current bottling of this as far as I know. As I buy these here in the states and 2022 is currently being sold. (Last purchase was about a month ago).

Andy Velebil

To update. Lufthansa for a long time on long haul flights to/from USA has had either Graham’s LBV or 10 yr tawny for business class. Both in 375ml bottles. Last year they had Niepoort 30 in first class. This year it’s been Niepoort 20 yr in first class for long haul flights to/from USA. All were fro...

Andy Velebil

I didn’t attend the tasting, but I am very interested to read about the 1970 becoming less reliable / showing old age / losing fruit. Didn’t we say something similar about the 1960 vintage 15 years ago? And about the 1963 vintage about 10 years ago? Do I sense a pattern? Do we need to leave our 197...

Andy Velebil

Noval is consistently one of the most expensive tawny producers so that price doesn’t surprise me. IMO, like the 40’s, there won’t be a lot of them sold when compared to 10/20/30’s. Your big companies maybe do one bottling run every couple years or so for 40’s. Depending on demand of course. So I’d ...

Andy Velebil

Fake.

Sadly, more and more of fake old ports are showing up on the market.

Andy Velebil

pommy42 wrote:]Mystery bottle from an auction...any help with identifying pre pulling the cork would be much appreciated. James keith appears to be the importer and claimed 1930s by the auction house...#help

Capsule pic is blurry. Can you post a clear pic?

And some overall shots of the whole bottle?

Andy Velebil

The history of Guimaraens is very complicated. However, Fonseca and Guimaraens were two separate companies until Alistair merged them, IIRC in the late 60’s. I will look back through an old article I wrote on the history of the company (old computer and need to find the file. But it was an article o...

Andy Velebil

Have a pic of the bottle and cork?

Andy Velebil

Looks Very nice. Last I was there they were doing demo work where it would be. Please do post more pics if you visit. Thanks

Andy Velebil

Very interesting and educational history. Thank you.

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