ThePortForum.com

Hi All,

Ok so I am going to try one on my newly acquired bottles of 1963 Croft - probably the one with the dropped cork (see viewtopic.php?t=14191).

I have never have never tried such an old port before. What should I expect? How different from, say, a recent vintage or a LBV port will it be?

Also how best to taste? I understand that I need to decant the port some hours before. I plan to ask a neighbouring wine enthusiast round with his wife and mine, so four of us to share the bottle. It's not going to keep once opened, even vacuvined, right?

I have a 2005 Warre's VP we could also try for comparison but that might be just silly for all I know.

We'll need to eat too. Would a selection of fine cheese be suitable as an accompaniment or just a distraction?

Genuinely seeking advice as I am a complete novice on this.

Many thanks

Steve

This port will be sweet and luscious and... look at recent tasting notes of this forum to see what to expect.

It is a pop'n'pour i.e. do not decant much in advance. You should decant off the sediment, but just before serving. Four of you will consume it within an hour of opening, because it is way too easy to drink this wine. Three of us managed to do this last year with a bottle of this even though it was the fourth bottle of wine of the night (albeit not all the others were port). YMMV but, seriously, it will not keep.

2005 Warre - decant 24 hours in advance to allow for reasonable comparison. They will be very different but that will be instructive. this one will keep a few days.

Cheese a fine accompaniment, although better with the Warre 2005 than this Croft, which is quite soft and delicate now.

I agree with the advice not to decant the Croft 1963 too far in advance. I’d suggest an hour ahead of the planned drinking time. Serve it slightly chilled, around 12-14C if you can.

I find with a Port of this age that I enjoy cured meats like Milano Salami and Parma Ham and hard cheeses. I don’t like the traditional Stilton / Port combination as I find the blue cheese overpowers the Port.

And don’t be afraid to keep some for tomorrow if you don’t finish the Port tonight. Despite the age and the scare stories, I happily drink a bottle of Port of this sort of age over 2-3 nights. I keep the decanter in the fridge or the wine cabinet and while the wine changes (sometimes for better, sometimes not) over that time I have yet to encounter a wine which changes from delicious to revolting overnight.

Thanks both! I'll decant close to the drinking time as recommended. I will check the tasting notes. Also, I like the suggestion of cured meats as an accompaniment. Much appreciated.

We're likely to arrange this for early December, so I'll report back after the event.

Oh, and drink lots of water, before, during, and after. It's not so much the alcohol as the fact that port has circa 100g of residual sugar per litre. Give your system enough liquid to enable it to process it.

With sufficient practice you can swiftly reach the stage where a glass of Port goes with almost any food group. (The only exception is something really acidic like a lemon tart). Although the proper accompaniment to a glass of Port is another glass of Port...

I don’t eat meat so can’t help there but I agree with Alex that the Port & Stilton combination doesn’t work well. It is quite odd how popular it has become. In terms of cheese, I also think softer cheese can work well, too. My favourites are Village Maid’s Wigmore + Waterloo and rind-washed cheese such as Stinking Bishop, although if you get hold of a Portuguese, I’d try that one as well. You can’t go too far wrong with a Serra da Estrela for example.

Other things I like are really high quality almonds (either savoury or sugared), marzipan and dark chocolate.

I think blue cheeses work well with young VPs, LBVs, or a good ruby reserve. It's noty favourite combo, but it works well. It definitely does *not* work well with mature VPs or tawnies.

A few weeks ago I had an extremely cured cheese that completely destroyed the Douro DOCs we were drinking, they simply faded and started tasting of almost nothing. The only thing that managed to stand up to it was a 2013 Cockburn's LBV.

I think that both VP and Tawny, but moreso Tawny, pair well with semi soft cheeses like cheddar, comte, gouda, queijo da serra (or serra da estrela) and the like. Even a young non-blue Stilton. Softer cheeses can also work, though some of them start to have stronger flavors that don't (to me) pair well. I like a 10 year old White Port with just about any kind of food short of a big hunk of red meat, for which an LBV or moderately aged to young VP works better.

I don't like blue cheese to start with, but I simply can't imagine how it would pair well with Port in any way. It is far too strong.

Port and chocolate is a classic pairing, but again in my opinion does not work unless you're very careful about choosing the chocoloate. The key to the pairing is that the Port should be sweeter than the chocolate. If the chocolate is sweeter, it makes the Port taste sour. Note that this does not mean you need an 80%+ dark chocolate - you simply need one made with less sugar such as Brix Chocolate.

Hi all, after numerous covid-related delays we finally got round to sampling the first of a case of 1963 Croft I bought at auction.

In summary: Wow!!!!

I opened bottle number 1 from this mugshot gallery:
This is the one with the completely dropped cork under the plastic capsule (see viewtopic.php?t=14191).
More to follow....

So...

I decanted it through an unbleached coffee filter about an hour before serving. When I initially tried a thimbleful at decanting (well the last few drips from the filter) it tasted interesting but very slightly harsh. But definitely not corked, which was the first plus.

When decanted, it definitely looked chestnut red rather than deep inky red that I am used to with ports. Also, it was incredibly clear. The following photo makes it look quite a lot browner than it seemed to us at the time - maybe it's the artificial lights affecting the photo?

It tasted...

Absolutely out of this world!! I am not very good at describing wine flavours but I will have a go:

The scent was heavenly: mature Christmas puddings, dried fruits, toasted nuts. In the mouth there was such intense flavour... a lot of caramel, toasted hazelnut, raisins, prunes maybe, slight smokiness, a hint of brown butter. It was ever so complex to my palette, sweet without being sickly, each sip seemed to last forever running through a range of flavours. Very well balanced. (Sorry, I fear I am getting carried away.)

We drank it (after a bottle of very lovely 2018 La Rosine Northern Rhone Syrah), with cured meats (Iberico and Parma ham) and some Manchego, Dorset Blue Vinny and a rather ripe Isle of Wight soft cheese. The latter seemed to got best with the port, along with the hams.

Sadly, the bottle disappeared all too fast. I am looking forward to trying some of the others in time. It will be particularly interesting to try one of those which have retained(?) the cherry red colour (bottles 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12 in my photo).

If this was a 'damaged' bottle I can't wait to try an undamaged one!

Unless that is a very very large decanter and glass, the fill level must have been terrible.

Your note seems to be of a perfect mature ’63. Well done.

Haha, the photo was taken once I remembered - we were well over half way through by then. The fill levels are all above the bottom of the neck apart from bottle no. 2, which is a bout 5 mm below. (It is quite a big decanter though, 1.5 litre, I believe)