What have you opened this week?

[Roy Hersh]

1980 Gould Campbell VP turned out even better than expected. Such a phenomenal Port and I must taste this up against the Dow and Graham's. So many fine 1980 Ports today. The best half dozen are still showing that they require a longer decant to present their best.

Also had a stellar bottle of "60" by S. Leonardo. It is the stuff that fantasies are made of, but this Port was very real and sips were very small around the table and at least my glass full lasted nearly an hour. Such remarkable juice and few Ports of any age are as balanced and decadent as this one.

[David Spriggs]

1980 Gould Campbell VP.

I love this wine. I'm always on the lookout for reasonably priced bottles. I wish I had bought more when they were being dumped on the market.

[Roy Hersh]

1980 GC: Agreed. I only grabbed a couple of cases and my regret now is that I did not buy more. Still have 10 left, but these are so tasty that it is hard to keep your hands off of them. LOADS of upside, still.

[Roy Hersh]

Tonight a rare mid-week bottle of VP, 1991 Croft, in decanter already.

[Mike J. W.]

1980 Gould Campbell VP.

I love this wine. I'm always on the lookout for reasonably priced bottles. I wish I had bought more when they were being dumped on the market.

I just opened a bottle of the GC 1980 today. It's the first GC that I've tried and it didn't disappoint. I started with a 12 hour decant. When I initially decanted it was a medium purple and had a sweet toasty smell to it. It's a medium weight port with a little bit of heat on it, but it wasn't over powering the taste at all. This one definitely punches above it's weight. You can find it in the US for under $70 a bottle. I know I'll be buying more of this one.

P.S. I just had my second glass tonight. I normally only drink one glass of Port a night, but I had to have a second glass of this one.

[Thomas V]

We did a house tasting of Wiese & Krohn in my club. Was a great showing of colheita ports from one of the best houses within the discipline. Generally all dark in appearance with good concentration of flavours and a spicy backbone. The 61 was WOTN for me with a lots of molasses, brown sugar and liquorish . Good acidity still. Splendid stuff. QPR for me is still the 1987 which is just a great buy.

1961 W&K Colheita (96 point)
1968 W&K Colheita (95 point)
1976 W&K Colheita (93 point)
1978 W&K Colheita (94 point)
1982 W&K Colheita (90 point)
1987 W&K Colheita (92 point)

[David Spriggs]

Thomas - Thank you for the scores on the Krohns!

[Andy Velebil]

We did a house tasting of Wiese & Krohn in my club. Was a great showing of colheita ports from one of the best houses within the discipline. Generally all dark in appearance with good concentration of flavours and a spicy backbone. The 61 was WOTN for me with a lots of molasses, brown sugar and liquorish . Good acidity still. Splendid stuff. QPR for me is still the 1987 which is just a great buy.

1961 W&K Colheita (96 point)
1968 W&K Colheita (95 point)
1976 W&K Colheita (93 point)
1978 W&K Colheita (94 point)
1982 W&K Colheita (90 point)
1987 W&K Colheita (92 point)

[Roy Hersh]

Thomas,

That 1961 is a freak of nature, and I went one point higher. But these two seem reversed and as many times I've had the 1976 over the years and have turned off the spigot on the rest of mine (for now); the 1968, for my palate, has never been as great. Both my brother and my friend Blair from BC were encouraged (by this guy) to load up on whatever they could of the remaining Krohn's before a certain CA scam-ridden retailer went out of business. So I've had the 1968 a lot in the past 2 or 3 years. Maybe it is just me, while good, I don't get the nerve of acidity like I do in the '76 nor the length of the finish. Just my two cents.

1968 W&K Colheita (95 point)
1976 W&K Colheita (93 point)

Anyone else to compare these two?

[David Spriggs]

Tonight a rare mid-week bottle of VP, 1991 Croft, in decanter already.

Another excellent Port! The last one I opened was surprisingly closed, so please let me know how yours shows.

[Roy Hersh]

I wanted to remove and start drinking it at 4 hours and took a few sips and as you say, it was still closed. At 5 hours it began to open up a bit. We consumed half of the decanter in the next forty five minutes and had left the rest in the decanter. At exactly 6 hours we poured the rest around the table, 3 of us and agreed it was now ready for prime time and was richer, darker and silky smooth with medium viscosity. The aromatics bordered on profound and the palate was a pretty typical showing, although I am usually one point higher. On this night an overall 92+ and it is still a few years, maybe even a decade from being in its prime. That said, I love this Croft!

[Andy Velebil]

Thomas,

That 1961 is a freak of nature, and I went one point higher. But these two seem reversed and as many times I've had the 1976 over the years and have turned off the spigot on the rest of mine (for now); the 1968, for my palate, has never been as great. Both my brother and my friend Blair from BC were encouraged (by this guy) to load up on whatever they could of the remaining Krohn's before a certain CA scam-ridden retailer went out of business. So I've had the 1968 a lot in the past 2 or 3 years. Maybe it is just me, while good, I don't get the nerve of acidity like I do in the '76 nor the length of the finish. Just my two cents.

1968 W&K Colheita (95 point)
1976 W&K Colheita (93 point)

Anyone else to compare these two?

I agree. The 68 when initially released was quite good. As it has aged in bottle it has lost that perceived acidity. It is not near as good as it used to be as it has aged in bottle. That comes from having well over a case of this since it was released. I’d suggest drinking them soon if you still have some.

The 76 is still holding that acidity very well and no super rush to drink.


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[Kurt Wieneke]

Niepoort 2011 LBV last week from 375ml, it's ready to drink and throwing sediment already.

Roy, I'm curious as to how the 91 Croft is showing at this point?

[Thomas V]

Maybe we don't agree on the specific point giving in the case of the 68 and 76.

There can be bottle variation and of course the bottling year. But I think we can all agree that the older colheitas from Wiese & Krohn is some of the best available. And we should cherish and stock up on what is left.

First they discontinued the 30 year old tawny. Now I heard yesterday from the Danish importer that they are no longer bottling the 20 year old as well. The old colheitas which we are discussing here are also no longer being bottled to order. So what that leaves us with from this legendary house is:

A lagrima
10 Year old Tawny
Colheitas from the 90's and younger
LBVs & VPs (Which has never been the backbone of W&K)

It really sadness me.

[Glenn E.]

That 1961 is a freak of nature, and I went one point higher. But these two seem reversed and as many times I've had the 1976 over the years and have turned off the spigot on the rest of mine (for now); the 1968, for my palate, has never been as great. Both my brother and my friend Blair from BC were encouraged (by this guy) to load up on whatever they could of the remaining Krohn's before a certain CA scam-ridden retailer went out of business. So I've had the 1968 a lot in the past 2 or 3 years. Maybe it is just me, while good, I don't get the nerve of acidity like I do in the '76 nor the length of the finish. Just my two cents.

1968 W&K Colheita (95 point)
1976 W&K Colheita (93 point)

Anyone else to compare these two?

I agree. The 68 when initially released was quite good. As it has aged in bottle it has lost that perceived acidity. It is not near as good as it used to be as it has aged in bottle. That comes from having well over a case of this since it was released. I’d suggest drinking them soon if you still have some.

The 76 is still holding that acidity very well and no super rush to drink.

My first couple of bottles of the '68 may have been off in some way, because I really didn't get much acidity at all in those bottles. The perceived acidity has increased for me over the years, to where I now rate the '68 in the 93-94 point range instead of the 90 range when I first tried it. I also disagree with the notion that perceived acidity is the be-all and end-all for a tawny Port. If that's what you want, just drink lemon juice. I have found numerous Ports over the years that have gotten better - more balanced - as the perceived acidity has gone down.

These days I'm typically in the 93-94 range for the '68 and the 95-96 range for the '76.

All that said, I agree with Roy that the '76 has always been better than the '68. The '76 has a light, ethereal quality to it that the '68 simply cannot match. Though if you like the darker, earthier profile of the '68 then you might prefer it over the '76.

[Glenn E.]

On topic: I opened a 1968 Krohn Colheita while in Puerto Vallarta last week. It kept nicely all week at one glass each evening - hey, there was Tequila that needed drinking! - and I probably would have rated it 93-94 points had I done a proper tasting note.

[David Spriggs]

...
There can be bottle variation and of course the bottling year. But I think we can all agree that the older colheitas from Wiese & Krohn is some of the best available. And we should cherish and stock up on what is left.

Agreed. There is a lot of variation based on bottling date and I see some differences based on export market.

It really sadness me.

Me too. A real loss for the for bringing in new people to enjoy Colheitas. The prices of old colheitas are accelerating upward every year. How can novices afford them? Only with a Port club or a friend with them in their cellar?

[Roy Hersh]

Kurt W.,

To answer your question, the 1991 Croft is drinking beautifully today. Will it improve? Yes, I definitely believe it has upside potential both qualitatively and also for age ability as well. But at 28 years of age, you can certainly open and appreciate this VP today. In fact, it is wonderful, now. I believe they will drink even better from 2030+ and certainly for a full decade from there, while at that latter point, in fully and delicious maturity.

[Roy Hersh]

As for the 1968 vs. 1976, bottle variation aside, maybe it is just an American lust for the 1976 and the Danes simply prefer 1968.

I never have seen the 1968 as one of the greater Krohn Colheitas, but that is solely my personal palate preference. Clearly Glenn really likes it, (at 93-94 points). It is not about the perceived acidity that Glenn hinted at and Andy first mentioned above. What the crisper if not slightly more focused acidity brings to the 1976 party, is the overall balance as well as distinctive freshness, as it cleaves the residual sugar in this gorgeous Colheita and leaves a cleansing nuance across the palate. That's just one of the things that I love about it and also find lacking in the 1968 most of the time; which is very solid at around 92 and occasionally at best, 93 points; for my palate, FWIW. YMMV!!

Additionally, further commentary about Krohn is that it is really a darn shame that these beauties are quickly disappearing from the market place. But I remember providing a warning about this, shortly after announcing the sale to TFP here on several years back. Obviously Krohn was always a great producer with phenomenal stocks of gorgeous older wood-aged Ports. Don't knock their VP's as David G. really did a fine job with his surprising rendition of 2016 Krohn. Who'da thunk it?!?! That being said, the day that Adrian signed the deal, most of us knew it was the beginning of the end of the Carneiro's family fame and fortune with their beloved brand revered for centuries in Northern Europe and especially The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

[Roy Hersh]

1992 Quinta do Infantado VP - It is at a near-perfect place in its cellaring curve, while it likely won't get any better from here, there is no rush to drink this one either. Quite elegant and still showing the structure that was its strong suit in its youth. I still have several left from the initial 6 purchased on pre-release at a price that now looks silly.