1966 Warre Vintage Port

[Richard Henderson]

Opened for Christmas. What an alcohol kick at first opening but very powerful, lots of spice and dark fruit , black/white , red/ pepper blend. The color is a rich ruby, looks like it is from the 90's , not the 60's. Not the least bit pale or rust color.
After 8 hours , still hot getting very nice. Black cherry nose and flavor on the pallet. A little rosemary, toasted almonds, fine fruitcake, ( there are such things) big, long finish. Smoother at 12 hours but still lots of alcohol, but nice alcohol. Strange to call it forward for a 1966, but this could mature some more.
Not sure who bottled this. It came from the Fort Worth City Club cellar which is unloading wines at low prices that they have held for a long time in their walk in climate controlled cellar. This was a Robert Hass import . It had a pink wax capsule, no lead. Oddly, under slight pressure from the cork screw, the cork dropped intothe bottle, but the wine was undamaged. Decanted with moderate sediment.

[Roy Hersh]

Just out of curiosity sake ... how long did you decant this for Richard?

I love when pristine bottles like this show up so well. It reminds us when we read the TNs of others on ocassion who were less fortunate and bought barely light ruby with lots of bricking for the 1966 Warre's. Provenance is next to godliness!

You mentioned:

Strange to call it forward for a 1966, but this could mature some more.

Actually, that is exactly what I call, "backwards" ... meaning the Port itself showing so young that it belies the assumed age. But whatever it is called, it certainly sounds very good.

[Richard Henderson]

Backwards is proabably a better term. I opened another bottle yesterday at one of my double blind tasting groups. Most guessed it to be from the 80's or 90's. It had 4 hours and the tasters commented how pleasantly hot is was.
The bottle on Christmas was decnated 8 plus hours.
I am not sure how well such things are controlled, but I was wodnering if the fortifying brandy was higher proof than normal or if maybe they put in a little extra. EIther way. could the result be higher than 20%?

[Richard Henderson]

I opened two bottles in Costa Rica with wine friends. The most important change. After 8 days, all heat gone, all fruit still there with backbone great nose ,palate entry and finish. This is a great wine.