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Croft 1950 or 58 The old Croft had very faint branding on the cork, but one of the few details I was confident of was that the third digit was a 5 and not a 6 - so I remain convinced this was the '50 or '58, as I would not expect the '55 to be so pale. Pleasant but fading, with classic Croft signat...

Have just decanted my unknown '55 - and the cork has revealed all. It is in fact a.... ...well, I'll let you guess first! Tom PS: Will try to make it to Covent garden by 7.00, but I have a 40ft container from China arriving this afternoon, and I'm short of crew to unload.. ..perfect timing :evil:

Far too many! - over 700 bottles including the Morgans - but this is not typical... The sort of bargains you might pick up from the supermarkets are more likely to be damaged stock - a case gets dropped in the warehouse, one bottle breaks, and all the labels get drenched... I've no doubt that the sm...

The space in the cellar under my house is not overly plentiful, and the possibility of constructing a pupose built cellar at my Cambridge factory (where I have plentiful land) - keeps teasing me.. ..however, my needs alone would not justify the cost of the project. I'd be interested to know what peo...

When did Crasto first produce and market their own SQ's?

The earliest record I have is '94, but I suspect they pre-date that..

Tom

Can you guess who makes the most money out of all of this? Yes, you got it, it's the Distributor Yet none of the producers/shippers makes a serious attempt to cut out the middle man and trade directly with the consumer, (other than overcharging visiting tourists.. :evil: ) It must be quite tough fo...

It does now look likely that '07 will only have to be an average year to get a general declaration, which raises the risk of a weak vintage being declared. That said, there is a big question mark over the ability of the western economies to avoid a major downturn before declaration time in '09. It i...

You and the UK crew send me a few bottles of port which are "to young" every week

OK - and for each bottle we send, you send one back that's too old.

- Deal?

Tom

I've been working my way slowly through a Rebello Valente '70 decanted last Saturday lunchtime - overall a 5-4 wine, fragrant - but a little too spiritous. It was signficantly better after 2 days than at 24 hours, and remained on the same plateau on Tuesday. Last night it was beginning to show signs...

Nothing unusual in having half a dozen enabled as mods, but moderation must be done in moderation...

Tom

50 years is a very long time - a seal that may appear perfect may not actually be so - allowing a tiny amount of evaporation to occur without any visible leakage.

Tom

..ditto

Tom

I'm less than convinced by this 'breathing through the cork' business, as most old bottles have an airtight wax seal, and many newer ones have a plastic seal that is also effectively airtight. Indeed, I am a little concerned that some more recent bottlings may be compromised by a lack of sealing - e...

Taylor have declared Terra Feita and Vargellas for the same year before - I have both from 1996 - we only need to wait another ten years to compare them!

Tom

Better still, go for a dodecahedron tasting... You get three people to sit round a table with twelve pristine and ancient bottles, perfectly decanted (with placemats) - and then proceed to sample all the bottles four times over, paying particular attention to the finish, so no spitting is allowed. T...

The following information was gleaned from the infoportwine site and added to from other sources Andresen (bronze medal in 2008 DWWA Awards ) Borges (silver medal in 2008 DWWA Awards ) Churchill Gricha Conceito Gran Cruz (seen for sale at the Oporto duty free shop in October 2020) Hooper Krohn Krohn...

OK - In brief:

Would you trust Cruz not to cheat when submitting samples to Decanter??

Tom

Quick test - I just tried to post a reply to this and the site crashed - losing my text..

Tom

I think it was Broadbent who promoted the aide memoire "Anything But Chardonnay" - for those trying to make some basic sense of the range of whites in the supermarkets. Unfortunately another US TV acronym seems to have triumphed, and many shelves seem stacked on the NBC theory - Nothing Bu...

Interesting idea - perhaps Alex can be the test bed with his NN60..

Tom

Spot on Alex..

..now, for those with a short attention span:

Colheita = Vintage Tawny

Tom

OK, I spurred myself into action - there is a web retailer called 'The Lightbulb Company' with suitable merchandise - if anyone else is interested!

Tom

My occasional attempts to read corks through the dark glass of a port bottle have always resulted in failure - if anyone has any neat tricks for doing this, then please share. Incidentally, I have noticed that many bottles that appear too dark to check the level when held up to daylight or a 'pearl'...

The Tesco tawny is likely to be an unaged blend of ruby and white port.

- Probably best kept in the fridge prior to serving.

Tom

Hallelujah! Someone from the western side of the pond having the patience to give the juice enough time in decanter..! :D In a certain 'other' place, it's routine to hear the new world participants protesting that wines only need about 35 seconds in decanter... ..and then arguing that Graham '77 is ...