The Society's Port

[uncle tom]

I've picked up a few bottles of this as part of a mixed lot today, and it's giving me a headache with regard to classification

Is it a Ruby or a Tawny?

Is it a Standard port, or a Reserve?

Both the label, and the Wine Society's website, are singularly uninformative!

Tom

[Alex Bridgeman]

If all it says is "The Society's Port" it is almost certainly a ruby, possibly a reserve but I would expect it to say so somewhere if this was the case.

Of course, if it's an old bottling then it could be port from somewhere other than the Douro...

[jdaw1]

Does it have a (probably two-character) Society classification code? I have photographs of TWS’s port pages for catalogues up to ’63-ish.

[uncle tom]

The bottles are believed to be about ten years old, were produced by Martinez Gassiot.

There is a batch number - L1120X - on the back label, other than that there is no article number.

I suppose I could email the IVDP with the selo number - anyone tried asking them to identify a selo number before?

Tom

[uncle tom]

Oh well, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it..

..I've just popped a bottle to find out!

A tawny it appears, and quite a good tawny at that..

Ten years af aging has probably rubbed the rough edges off - really very quaffable!

Think I'll list it as a Tawny Reserve.

Tom

[DRT]

I suppose I could email the IVDP with the selo number - anyone tried asking them to identify a selo number before?

I have tried that and got nowhere.

The WS should be able to trace the batch number?