1966 Rocha Vintage Port

[Jay Powers]

Rocha's 1966, bottled by Ridge (California), purchased from K&L.

Lead capsule and a decrepit cork which fell apart on opening. Upon decanting off of a fairly heavy sediment very little aroma was observed and a pale pink color with brown/orange hints.

After ~3-4 hours in the decanter the color had undergone a dramatic change to ruby red with a brown trend. The aroma had dramatically increased in power. In the glass and on the nose: Spicey and flowery with hints of vanilla and maple. Well integrated with no hint of spirit. Tending towards the tawney, but you could not mistake this for a wood port. According to my wife, the best port she has ever had. I would not go quite so far, but this was a very nce port for drinking now. Don't wait, this is fully mature and is unlikely to get better in the bottle.

This was my first Rocha, and I will surely be looking for some more examples in the future!

Jay

[*sweetstuff]

Dear Jay,

An interesting story, given the fact that this might have been one of the latest-bottled non-Portuguese bottlings ever, if the information in the blurb K and L tells is true giving the reason for its existence. [The only way Ridge could get its hands on barrels was to buy them full of Port, and ended up bottling some of it. Draper was in business in the sixties, and this might have been an early episode.] Frustratingly, K and L doesn't give a bottling date. Does the label? Are there any other details out there about this wine, which is available from that retailer for about $100?

Best, John Trombley

[Jay Powers]

I still have the bottle upstairs here, but no botteling date anywhere. The Label explicitly says "imported and bottled by: The Ridge Vineyards Inc, Cupertino, California 95014", but not much more than that.

I did get the bottle at K&L, an impulse buy when I saw it in the racks. I would buy it again as well.

Does anyone else have any background on this port?

Jay

[Roy Hersh]

I have had this on a number of occasions. I still have a bottle or two in the cellar, although I'd be surprised if mine was a Ridge bottling as the US importer is local.

[Tom Archer]

The '70 VP's were extensively bottled outside Portugal - I am not sure about the '72's though..

All the VP from the '75 vintage was Oporto bottled

I have never seen a Rocha bottle offered for sale in the UK. There's very little written about the brand, which seems to be a Barros wine. Suckling dismisses them as 'vintage dated rubies'.

Sounds like this was ruby port shipped to the US that the bottler thought would sell better with a date on.

- But if it's drinking well, why worry!

Tom

[Andy Velebil]

I have a good friend who works at Ridge. I wil shoot him an email and see if they still have any records about how much they imported, etc.

I had no idea that port was bottled in the USA.

[Roy Hersh]

Rocha is a brand that was created by the Barros family for a specific importer here in Seattle, (Washington State) USA. Once the importer got the brand recognized in this market, he expanded throughout the USA although this is still Rocha's number one market. Additionally, there are a few countries in Europe that do get allocations of Rocha. To the best of my understanding, the UK is not one of them though.

[Edward J]

So another couple of bottles of the 1966 Rocha Vintage Port showed up over at K&L for auction and they now belong to me. Recent notes seems to show it's holding up well. Andy, i was wondering did you ever get a response from your friend at Ridge?

[Andy Velebil]

So another couple of bottles of the 1966 Rocha Vintage Port showed up over at K&L for auction and they now belong to me. Recent notes seems to show it's holding up well. Andy, i was wondering did you ever get a response from your friend at Ridge?

Opps I think I bid against you on these. Sorry, didn't know it was you.

I don't recall now, been too long. From what I read Ridge wanted used Port barrels and had to buy them with Port in them. Hence these bottlings. Ridge also imported some of these pre-bottled in Porto and shipped here. If I run across Paul Draper next time I'm up there and if I remember I'll ask him.

[Edward J]

No worries, one more bid and you would have had it. I didn't have any 1966 Vintage Port, and these have a local angle for me.