ThePortForum.com

1994 Tesco (Symington)
This thread is starting life in Port Conversations, with the intention that it or some of it be moved to Port Tasting Notes when the guessing is done.

Vintage port found in Paris, today, at less than €30 per bottle. What is it?

Edit: title changed; moved forum.

?, at D+0. To behold 90% opaque, purple at center and red at the edge. Looks young. Nose closed, with plum juice. The mouth a mix. Initially that same plum, immediately followed by mint/menthol, then a brief flash of acridity. Then mid-weight purple fruit to the long ending. Bodes well.

You may ask eye/nose/taste questions. E.g., ‟Does it smell of melons?”

Those seeking hints (did X also happen in that year?) will be rebuffed,

jdaw1 wrote:You may ask eye/nose/taste questions. E.g., ‟Does it smell of melons?”

Can you taste Bunberries?

Is it an SQVP from 2001?

It’s thoroughly drinkable indeed, is being drunk so tastes of bunberries. Bunberries are the magic drinkability ingredient.

2001: wrong.

The mint/menthol sensation is now appearing, gently, throughout the whole experience. This is lovely juice, and its maker (to be revealed) can be pleased with the handiwork.

There’s also a hint of dryness at the start, but thereafter medium+ sweetness.

Sounds a bit like a 2005 Vesuvio to me, but not at 30 Euros. Then again, it's France. What do they know?

Glenn E. wrote:Sounds a bit like a 2005 Vesuvio to me, but not at 30 Euros. Then again, it's France. What do they know?

Hmm... perhaps we should ask some more sensible questions?

How tannic is this? Is the nose grapy?

DRT wrote:Is it an SQVP from 2001?

jdaw1 wrote:2001: wrong.

So it's an SQVP.

Crasto 2005?

JacobH wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:Sounds a bit like a 2005 Vesuvio to me, but not at 30 Euros. Then again, it's France. What do they know?

Hmm... perhaps we should ask some more sensible questions?

How tannic is this? Is the nose grapy?

Excellent questions. To which I add:

Do you detect Christmas spice?
Failing that, any cinnamon or nutmeg?

Not 2005.

There is now, on the tip of the tongue, some pepper heat. It reminds me of a lightly spiced papadum. Not Christmas spice though.

Grapes now starting to be stronger than plums. Red grapes; not black, not white.

Crasto 2004?

Derek’s guessing continues unabated. Not 2004.

Tannin: moderate. Not really obvious until I swill it around the front gums, when it becomes very drying and obvious indeed.

1995 Crasto? This is beginning to sound like a magnum that I opened a year ago...

Not 1995.

Crasto?

DRT wrote:Crasto?

No. This is a Port of which I know you are aware.

As I have been working my way through this a major defect is becoming more obvious.

jdaw1 wrote:

DRT wrote:Crasto?

No. This is a Port of which I know you are aware.

Rozès 1997?

DRT wrote:Rozès 1997?

Not Rozès.

Extra clues:
• Actual cost = €16 per bottle.
• It is not as young as it tastes, nor as young as you all have guessed.

Cruz 1989.

DRT wrote:Cruz 1989.

DRT, the master of the completely wrong wild stab in the dark.

When I tell you what it is, at the end of this glass, reprimand yourself.

Not a stab in the dark - a reaction to the quoted price and the fact you are in France.

DRT wrote:Not a stab in the dark - a reaction to the quoted price and the fact you are in France.

So without reference to the colour or taste. Hmmm. Some might call that a wild stab in the dark.

So you are suggesting that anyone who guesses based on someone else's description of the taste, colour and nose without being within 300 miles of the glass is not having a stab in the dark?

There are others for whom it would be a wild guess. But you should know.

I am going to completely ignore your last statement and take a wild stab in the dark...

Is it a 1994 VP produced by Symington Family Estates for Tesco that might or might not be Quarles Harris?

And is the major flaw that is becoming more obvious anything to do with the size of the bottle?

DRT wrote:I am going to completely ignore your last statement and take a wild stab in the dark...

Is it a 1994 VP produced by Symington Family Estates for Tesco that might or might not be Quarles Harris?

Yes! Found at the Epicerie Anglaise, 6 boulevard Magenta, so just north-east of République. There were (emphasise past tense) in stock two bottles.

DRT wrote:And is the major flaw that is becoming more obvious anything to do with the size of the bottle?

Did it need saying?

You see! I knew my analytical approach would work out the answer in the end.

You should inform the shop keeper that you would not be insulted if he replenished his stock.

DRT wrote:You should inform the shop keeper that you would not be insulted if he replenished his stock.

I had already planned same.

DRT wrote:Is it a 1994 VP produced by Symington Family Estates for Tesco that might or might not be Quarles Harris?

QH owns no vineyards. They use whatever bought-in or left-over grapes can make good juice (for it often is good juice). Your phrasing suggests that anything made by the Symingtons with grapes not grown themselves is QH. If that isn’t what you meant, in what sense can this, or anything without a Quarles Harris label, be Quarles Harris?

Did DRT really just blind-guess a Port correctly based on someone’s else’s tasting note? I call foul-play. This has all the hallmarks of a far-Eastern betting cartel scam...

jdaw1 wrote:QH owns no vineyards. They use whatever bought-in or left-over grapes can make good juice (for it often is good juice). Your phrasing suggests that anything made by the Symingtons with grapes not grown themselves is QH. If that isn’t what you meant, in what sense can this, or anything without a Quarles Harris label, be Quarles Harris?

I thought that the Symingtons attempted to run their brands as if they were still independent shippers. That would mean that although Quarles Harris did and does not own any shippers, the Port used to make it mostly comes from the same independent quintas each year. In that way they can preserve something of a house-style. You could therefore have something without a Quarles Harris label on it which is essentially the Quarles Harris blend, much in the way that a blend of Vargellas, Terra Feita, Junco (etc.) could still sensible be referred to as a ‟Taylor’s”, even if it was sold under a Tesco label.

JacobH wrote:Did DRT really just blind-guess a Port correctly based on someone’s else’s tasting note? I call foul-play. This has all the hallmarks of a far-Eastern betting cartel scam...

Of course, he wasn’t at all helped by his recently posting me a Tesco 1994, nor by

DRT wrote:There are others for whom it would be a wild guess. But you should know.

JacobH wrote:I thought that the Symingtons attempted to run their brands as if they were still independent shippers. That would mean that although Quarles Harris did and does not own any shippers, the Port used to make it mostly comes from the same independent quintas each year. In that way they can preserve something of a house-style. You could therefore have something without a Quarles Harris label on it which is essentially the Quarles Harris blend, much in the way that a blend of Vargellas, Terra Feita, Junco (etc.) could still sensible be referred to as a ‟Taylor’s”, even if it was sold under a Tesco label.

Fair. How consistent a set of sources does QH use?

jdaw1 wrote:Of course, he wasn’t at all helped by his recently posting me a Tesco 1994, nor by

jdaw1, not DRT, wrote:There are others for whom it would be a wild guess. But you should know.

Ah, mis-understood the importance of that comment!

jdaw wrote:Fair. How consistent a set of sources does QH use?

A very interesting question, to which I do not know the answer. Perhaps one to ask the next time someone meets someone in the trade?

When the Tesco BOB 1994 first appeared on the shelf about three years ago the label ststed that it was produced by Quarles Harris. My assumption at the time was that it was the QH94 relabelled specially for Tesco. Later releases omit the reference to QH. It might or might not be a different wine to that which was first sold under the Tesco brand name.h

DRT wrote:When the Tesco BOB 1994 first appeared on the shelf about three years ago the label ststed that it was produced by Quarles Harris. My assumption at the time was that it was the QH94 relabelled specially for Tesco. Later releases omit the reference to QH. It might or might not be a different wine to that which was first sold under the Tesco brand name.h

Maybe the Symingtons decided to protect the QH a brand a little?

I seem to remember a discussion at some stage as to whether two blends were being sold as the Tesco 1994, with one (perhaps the Quarles Harris blend) being much better. Am I imagining that?

JacobH wrote:I seem to remember a discussion at some stage as to whether two blends were being sold as the Tesco 1994, with one (perhaps the Quarles Harris blend) being much better. Am I imagining that?

Perhaps in this TN.

jdaw1 wrote:

JacobH wrote:I seem to remember a discussion at some stage as to whether two blends were being sold as the Tesco 1994, with one (perhaps the Quarles Harris blend) being much better. Am I imagining that?

Perhaps in this TN.

Also discussed here and here.

This one incorrectly indexed.