1933 Calem White Colheita

[Alex Bridgeman]

This was from an old bottle, probably recorked in the 1970s judging from the nature of the cork and capsule. The bottle was labelled with a label reading "No 1 Port" and a neck label reading "Calem 1933". The look and taste of the port brought the conclusion that this was and old, mature and top quality white colheita, quite possibly from 1933.

Very light, very pale amber in colour. Very smelly on the nose, someone described it as madeira-like and it was spot on a verdelho nose - lots of petrol and burnt caramelised oranges. Very unlike madeira in the mouth. Good, thick texture. Lots of caramelised oranges. A huge dose of acidity on the aftertaste, which moves through the range of bitter citrus from Seville Orange through to Grapefruit and is long lasting. Pleasant enough as an experiment. 86/100.

[DRT]

Stinky, toffee, sweet and slightly hot.

I'm not 100% convinced this was a white port. It could easily have been a straight-forward, but not great, colhieta.

[uncle tom]

The nose convinced me that this was a white - it had a recognisable white signature that I've never found in a red.

My thanks to Bonhams for failing to read the faded neck tag - this is probably my best QV port of the year..

(and thanks to everyone for leaving a quarter decanter for me to enjoy today - the sum total of all the other dregs* amounted to about two glasses..)

Tom

* The remains of Derek's Sandeman white found its way behind the bar - whence it was left..

[JacobH]

It was a shame about the nose; but perhaps that has now blown off? Apart from that, I thought that this was very pleasant, with lots of spicy citrus flavours.