TN: Peter Lehman's "The King" Vintage 'port' 1996

[Todd Pettinger]

Peter Lehman's "The King" Vintage 'port' 1996
I see a few different Aussie <not-ports> kicking around in the liquor store and have tried a few to see if ANY can come even remotely close. Aussies seem to like butchering "port" by making it with Shiraz and other non-traditional grapes. I haven't minded one or two of the Shiraz dry reds I have had in past (and I typically dislike dry wine) so I used to think adding the Shiraz grapes to a port blend might actually be not bad.

"The King" gave me hope as it is made primarily from Touriga Nacional with Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon added. In reading the label on the back, I just realized that they have placed a recommendation (if it is such) of consuming after 2017. I will have to purchase another when this wine hits the discount rack and compare it ten years time. Perhaps it will evolve magnificently in that ten years, but you won't see this guy holding his breath.

"The King" decanted fairly easily. I was happy to see the use of a traditional driven cork, 1¾ inch in length (so many Aussie <not-ports> include the T-cap.) The colour immediately told me I was going to be disappointed, but I pressed on in the name of science. The colour was a light ruby, heading towards alarming shades of orange, with an almost blue-green meniscus. Don't ask me how blue-green is possible, but that was what I was seeing folks.

The nose is acidic, with strong influences of green peppers, damp wood, and a musty note. The musty smell reminds me of freshly cut WET grass - not entirely unpleasant but not one I wish to have emanating from my port glass. There may have been floral notes at first, but they faded right away.

First taste upon decanting was a horrible, overpowering sweetness. Strawberries that are just beginning to turn bad with a medium length finish strong with spirit.

+24 hours
I decided to give this an awful long time in the decanter as I was sure that the air couldn't make it much worse than it actually was. It seems to have darkened just a tad and I am sure this is the influence of the Touriga Nacional grapes showing their stuff. Too bad the nose is still dominated by the musty smell of yesterday. Musty, with an undertone of sweet. Very difficult to describe - fortunately not something I come across very often.

At least the palate has gotten a bit better. I can sense the Touriga Nacional grapes there, unfortunately they are masked by a taste which I have come to suspect is the Shiraz grapes... All of the Aussie 'ports' I have tried have this similar taste.

At least the rotten strawberries have disappeared, which takes away some of the nastiness, but there is a fiery zest to this wine that leaves the palate burning with spirit at the end. I'm not sure what kind of brandy or alcohol they use to end the fermentation, but I wonder if this is not perhaps what is providing the taste that I am coming to dislike so much. I know the true Port producers use a completely neutral tasting spirit that is made from pure grapes, I know the Aussie producers are not bound by this, so I wonder if I am getting some sort of taste from the brandy used to cut this?

In any case, "The King" will definitely not have a long reign in this man's cellar. I will purchase one or two more to throw into the cellar for a 10 and perhaps 15 year test - just to see if this thing actually goes anywhere, but I will wait until the massive stocks that they have at the local Superstore Liquor Store get thrown into the discount bin. In case you are all wondering how much this cost, it is $28 Cdn ($25USD/£12,50) a bottle. It is on right now for C$25/U$22/£11 but it still is going nowhere and I am expecting it will hit C$20-17 before long. Shelf space is precious these days! :)

Okay, I've taken one for the team. Avoid this '96 "Vintage <not-port>." I could have bought a bottle of GOOD LBV for less than this and enjoyed it significantly more.

Todd

[Andy Velebil]

damp wood, and a musty note. The musty smell reminds me of freshly cut WET grass - not entirely unpleasant but not one I wish to have emanating from my port glass. There may have been floral notes at first, but they faded right away.

and this

Too bad the nose is still dominated by the musty smell of yesterday. Musty, with an undertone of sweet. Very difficult to describe - fortunately not something I come across very often.

Sounds like the bottle was corked. A corked bottle will mask the fruit and has a musty, wet cardboard kinda smell. This will get worse with exposure to air.

[Todd Pettinger]

Andy,

It very well might have been. Are there other signs that would indicate a corked bottle? I have zero experience (that I know of... perhaps this is a first) with a 'corked' port. I wonder if it is 'corked' or just bad 'port' (I am willing to accept either at this moment.)

I did notice the cork has an irregularity to it... it has two very tiny "lines" along the length of the cork... with red wine tracings along both... almost like someone had inserted an Ah-so bottle opener into the cork and then pulled out, abandoning the opening operation. I used the Ah-so style opener to open this bottle, but I can confirm that the Ah-so was not used on this particular area of the cork (i can still see the grooves caused by the opener prongs and they are not where this anomaly is.) I wonder if this is just a slight defect in the cork which allowed air to seep through to the wine?

I will see if I can take and post pics tomorrow.

The other thing that dissuades me from this line of thinking is just that the other three "ports" that I have tried from the land down under have all features Shiraz grapes... Not sure if this lends a distinctive taste to the wine but it could be.

I suppose I could fork over the money to buy another bottle to figure out of the bottle was corked or not... it is not fantastic stuff so I am leery......

Todd

[Al B.]

Todd

Corked wine is wine that has been spoiled by a chemical (trichloroanisole or TCA) that comes from bacterial action, bacteria that are often found in poorly cleaned corks, hence the term "corked wine".

You get an entirely different problem from a wine that has not made a tight seal and therefore lets air into the bottle. This leads to an oxidised wine - in other words it would make a VP taste like a tawny!

Andy is right, your port does sound like it was corked. The best advice when you get a bottle that smells musty is to take it back to the shop were you bought it and demand a replacement. If the replacement is just as bad, then write the wine off and never buy a bottle again. If the bottle is much more enjoyable and with no sign of that musty smell then chalk the other bottle up to experience as a "corked wine".

There's not too many corked ports around, but it does sound like you managed to find one.

Alex

[Todd Pettinger]

Right, thanks for the clarification Alex... I keep getting all these terms confused.
IIRC from another thread I read on corked wine, the TCA can also be introduced in the sterilization or cleaning of the equipment the wine is made with/aged in, is this correct?

Todd

[Andy Velebil]

Todd,
Yes you are correct. Some winery's used to use bleach to clean up with. IIRC, this can have some type of a chemical reaction with other things in the cellars and also cause the TCA to manifest itself.

Now I'm streching the mind this morning. But IIRC even the wood part of the winery building can infect the wine with TCA. I vaugely remember Miguel at Q.d.Crasto mentioning how they treated the exposed wood beams in their building to prevent this.

[Todd Pettinger]

Now I'm streching the mind this morning. But IIRC even the wood part of the winery building can infect the wine with TCA.

Yes, I think we have read the same thread then :) Now that the old brain is going today, I recall this exact thing.

Going to sample this thing one more time and if the results are the same, will take it back as Alex recommends and try for another one.

Thanks for the advice guys! I may have slandered the Aussie <not-port> just because I didn't realize what the taste/smell was all about.

[Todd Pettinger]

Bugger!! (Thought you'd appreciate that one Alex! :))

The SOBs at the Superstore Liquor Store won't give me an exchange. This despite the fact that I have dropped almost $800 there in the past two days.. :hoppingmad:

I did explain that the wine is likely tainted with TCA, the guy behind the counter stared at me blankly and called the manager over. He was even LESS help when he found the bottle was OPEN.
No returns on open bottles.
Even if they are bad?
"We can't prove that they are bad or if you just don't LIKE it" he says.
Argh!
So, needless to say, I'm not impressed, but now that I suspect that I know what a corked bottle smells and tastes like, I can be sure that I spot it earlier next time, rather than halfway through the (bad) bottle.

Thanks for your help on this one Alex and Andy. I MAY try this <not-port> again if I see it in a different store, but I am rather gunshy at this point to do so any time soon.

Todd