ThePortForum.com

Hi All
Newbie and amateur port fan here.
I bought this bottle at an estate sale recently but I cant find information about it anywhere on the Net after an hour of searching! Appreciate any thoughts, insights -- drink it, sell it, hold it or anything else!
Bottle says Cockburn No. 85 Dry Club Port, Choice Tawny, Medium Dry Produced and shipped by Cockburn Smiths Co. Ltda Oporto
4/5 quart size, imported and bottled by Munson G. Shaw co.NY
there is also a state of colorado liquor revenue stamp on it that is dated Mar 27 1941



Kyle

What you have is quite easy to identify since you've been able to post very clear pictures of the bottle and label - and the label is in excellent condition.

Tawny port is port allowed to mature in the barrel for a few years. Yours will be a blend of different ports from different years, bottled (probably) a little before it was imported into the US in 1941.

Unfortunately, tawny port of this sort is intended to be drunk shortly after being bottled - certainly not 70 years later. The bottle and label may have some value as an antique, the contents might be drinkable, but the most enjoyable use of the bottle might be as an ornament!

If you want to sell it, you could try eBay but make sure that you emphasise that you are selling the bottle and not the contents or you will fall foul of eBay's licensing rules.

This was obviously produced for some time as it appears in a tasting of The Wine and Food Society of New York as late as 1961.

It appears to have been a modestly priced port - a glass appearing on a NY restaurant list for 50% more than a bottle of Bud and just under 50% less than a glass of Harvey's Bristol Cream in 1949.

Given the apparent longevity of this particular"dry club port", Cockburn (now owned by the Symingtons) may retain some records giving a bit more detail about the years this port was produced, which markets exported to etc. - I'd suggest one of their websites (The Vintage Port Site) may be able to help you - go to the ask the expert section.

Unfortunately i would tend to agree with AHB though - of most value as a nice ornament and curiosity piece! (a bottle selling on Wine Commune for $1 in 07....).That said, strange things can happen on ebay or in auction and you might get lucky!

As a side note, interesting that they recommend standing and decanting - i wonder if it is unfiltered...

Thanks for the insights, gents! To be honest I bought it to drink -- and I think that's just what I'll do! Seems the odds are long on it tasting good, but we will see!

well if you want to bring it over to a new york tasting i've got some odd balls I could share

g-man wrote:well if you want to bring it over to a new york tasting i've got some odd balls I could share

That made me LOL.

DRT wrote:

g-man wrote:well if you want to bring it over to a new york tasting i've got some odd balls I could share

That made me LOL.

what I get for typing with 2 bottles of port