ThePortForum.com

Hi all

Can anyone help me identify this bottle? TBH I dont even know for sure that it's Port but it was with a number of other ports found in my grandfather's house recently. Before I bin/drink them I'm trying to identify the unfamiliar ones. Any thoughts much appreciated!

http://www.twitpic.com/4b3fja
http://www.twitpic.com/4b3fuw

Many thanks

Jon

costa oliveira
1880 garrafeira (form of tawny)

Many thanks.
Any ideas whether it's rare/good/rubbish?
Just trying to decide whether its worth keeping.

JMH wrote:Many thanks.
Any ideas whether it's rare/good/rubbish?
Just trying to decide whether its worth keeping.

it's rare, as for the taste, I have 0 idea as my understanding is that garrafeiras have a very distinctive taste.

Jon,

The second photo that you posted isn't on TwitPic anymore.

From the label of the first photo, I'm not entirely convinced this is Port. It is clearly a Portuguese wine, but could be a Madeira, Moscatel or something completely different from Port.

The use of Garrafeira in association with 1880 would imply only that this is a bottle from the 1880 vintage. I'm not familiar with either the large W on the label (unless this is a bottle that has been recorked in the past by Whitwams) and I don't recognise the producer as a Port producer.

This could possibly be a colheita port (a tawny from a single vintage) and would probably be quite tasty, but since this is not a well known name the value would likely be under £100 and probably closer to £50-60 if you decided to sell it.

My suggestion - if you like Port then try drinking the bottle. And let us know what you think of it!

Alex

Jon, part of the problem is that ‟garrafeira particular” simply means ‟private cellar” (or, perhaps more figuratively ‟private reserve”) so it tends to be used on a whole manner of different Portuguese wines. In Port terms it often means a barrel of Port that’s been kept for use by the family that owns the company. It can also mean the specific garrafeira style of Port but that is extremely rare and is only now made by on shipper, Nieport. I also didn’t think that any other company had consciously made and marketed a garrafeira Port in the Niepoort style but I might be wrong.

With the name Oliveira, I might also wonder if this was a bottle of Madeira (not least because of the lack of a bottling date), but I haven’t seen any Madeira of this age with a paper label. Indeed, the label looks much more 20th Century than 19th which would militate against it being Vintage (as opposed to tawny) Port.

Can you see the cork through the glass with a torch?

Thanks for your thoughts so far guys. It could well be a Madeira as my grandfather was partial to that too.
I'll see if there's anything visible on the cork when I get home tonight. If not, sounds like it might be one to crack open and see how we get on!