1991 Krohn Vintage Port
Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 10:01 pm
Krohn Vintage Port – 1991
This was purchased while on a business trip and could not be decanted. The hotel’s bar would not lend me a decanter for a half hour. They offer several selections of VP and a good selection of Aged Tawnies, so I suppose this might be why – they are protecting their ‘investment.” Being that the hotel was located in Silicon Valley, it was to be expected that their offerings were WAY overpriced, so I did not venture into any of them. (I was darned close on one, a 2 oz pour of Warre 1985, which I have a bottle of in my basement and would have loved to get a sampling of to determine whether I will open it sooner rather than later as I understand it is drinking well right now. $20 was a bit steep. I also noticed that the bottle was half empty, upright on the shelf, with what looked to be a ‘fake cork’ from a different variety of wine stuck in the top. I inquired further of course and the bartender did not know:
1 – when it had been opened
2 – whether it had been decanted
3 – where the plastic-y cork had come from. She was kind enough to haul the bottle down from the upper shelves of the display and we took a look. It was a waxy/plastic dealie – likely from a bottle of cheap zinfandel, sauvignon or the likes and used to stopper the Vintage Port. Indeed, a crime.
4 – it’s storage/provenance prior to opening. I noticed after an hour in the bar that there was a second bottle of the 85 Warre VP standing upright and sealed in a corner of the display case and that was enough to turn the tide AGAINST wasting $20 to sample what could potentially be a bad indicator of my own bottle at home.
Anyway, to get back to the Krohn – a half bottle purchased from a vendor in a nearby town whom I also purchased several (expensive but available!) bottles to bring back home with me. I tore the protective cap off and stood it upright for a day prior to opening. The driven cork was extracted in one piece with an Ah-so opener brought along in my luggage. While I say I did not decant, I did bring along a half dozen unbleached coffee filters knowing that I would likely be trying something that required filtering and I did use two to filter the crust/sediment off from the last glass (it was a rather large hotel red wine glass, but beggars cannot be choosers.) A lot of lumpy sediment at the bottom with more still clinging to the side of the bottle. At least I know Beltramos stored it horizontally for a long time! :)
Upon decanting
Only tried a very small sample as I had just enough time to uncork the bottle and leave it upright before heading out to a team dinner. The small pour was just enough to give me the impression of a wine that is starting to approach tawny – still ruby in the center but fading to a light red with orange on the outer rim.
First smell and sip gave no impressionable alcohol. Nice flavours, although not a brash, bold fruit at this point. I would say that raspberries, ripe plums and perhaps even a very slight licorice tint to this wine were the only fruits that were available, although all were muted.
+3.5 hours
Returning from a team dinner at a local Fish Market (for Jay and Rich’s benefit who live in the area, we went to the Santa Clara location.) I had the opportunity to try the Graham’s 20 yr Tawny after dinner and did so with much relish – I have a bottle in the basement which is waiting for a special occasion as it is a bit of a price concern here – I am happy to report notes of brown sugar, caramel, toffee, strong raisins and a slight hint of cinnamon in this. It went fabulously with the very good Crème Brulee for dessert.
I was really looking forward to the Krohn Vintage though and took the time to have a proper glass and made the remainder of my companions wait for me in the lobby (we were headed out to a local billiard hall to pass a bit fo time away, but I wanted to take some proper notes with a decent sized glass.)
No change to the colour, still bricky/orange on the outer rim. The meniscus was actually less clear than any other port I have had in recent memory. Knowing that this producer is not in the top one or two tiers, I speculated that this might be the reason.
The port was good but not great. At only 16 years of age, I do remember thinking “is it possible that this is fully mature and approaching that point where it might start to go into decline already?” Not having a tremendous amount of experience with decently-aged port, I am going to reserve final judgment on this. I would actually like to acquire a full bottle of this Vintage, to try again relatively soon to determine if it is a bit early-aged due to living in a 375 mL bottle.
Similar notes, a tad of licorice, but velvet smooth. I wondered if there was ANY spirit present as neither the nose nor the palate gave any indication of such. I could have been sipping a (very old) glass of grape juice with some of the fruit removed.
+6 hours
After returning from the Billiards hall (you UK guys will be pleased to know that despite playing ‘8-ball’ rather than snooker, the gentleman from the UK beat both me and our American friend properly!) I re-addressed this bottle. Knowing it had all the sediment still in the bottom, I poured with a level of care and caution that I did not know I had. I was successful, right to the last glass, at extracting only liquid from the bottle. With the last glass came a bunch of sediment, so something I have now nicknamed my “emergency hotel room decanting procedure” became borne (involving the aforementioned coffee filters.)
The Port did not seem to change much with 6 hours of air. I suspected it might, but did not. Had I had a full 750 mL bottle, I might have been able to notice further evolution after the 9 hour mark, but the remaining notes consist of the 6-9 hour timeframe, during which my precious cargo returning to Canada with me was packed carefully into my bag along with all my clothes. I was flying out on the evening of the last day of the workshop, so was checking out of the hotel the next morning.
Colour did not change at all (or if it did, was lost on me in the dim light of the hotel room.) The nose changed slightly, ridding itself of any trace of licorice after the 3.5 hour tasting. The taste and palate did not change a bit. The port was very smooth and velvety. It was very nice. but lacked the backbone (IMHO) to last another decade. I found myself wondering time and time again as the bottle quickly emptied itself, whether this could be attributed to the fact that it was a half bottle and had matured a bit quicker than its cousins and brothers in 750 and larger sizes. If not, I suspect that if folks out there have much of this kicking around in their cellars and do NOT drink up with the next 5 years, there may be some disappointment.
I know this is not a top tier producer and I wonder if this is one of the reasons why. I would very much like to get the chance to hear of someone out there with a proper full bottle to see if the comparisons are the same. If I find one available locally I will purchase it for comparison to determine if I was thrown off due to the smaller bottle size or accurate. If you have it – lets try one to see. You may find out that it will drink much sooner than initiall expected!
To rate it
I will score it as a 5-3. I do believe it will not last another decade. For immediate gratification it is somewhere in the middle-lower class.
Todd
This was purchased while on a business trip and could not be decanted. The hotel’s bar would not lend me a decanter for a half hour. They offer several selections of VP and a good selection of Aged Tawnies, so I suppose this might be why – they are protecting their ‘investment.” Being that the hotel was located in Silicon Valley, it was to be expected that their offerings were WAY overpriced, so I did not venture into any of them. (I was darned close on one, a 2 oz pour of Warre 1985, which I have a bottle of in my basement and would have loved to get a sampling of to determine whether I will open it sooner rather than later as I understand it is drinking well right now. $20 was a bit steep. I also noticed that the bottle was half empty, upright on the shelf, with what looked to be a ‘fake cork’ from a different variety of wine stuck in the top. I inquired further of course and the bartender did not know:
1 – when it had been opened
2 – whether it had been decanted
3 – where the plastic-y cork had come from. She was kind enough to haul the bottle down from the upper shelves of the display and we took a look. It was a waxy/plastic dealie – likely from a bottle of cheap zinfandel, sauvignon or the likes and used to stopper the Vintage Port. Indeed, a crime.
4 – it’s storage/provenance prior to opening. I noticed after an hour in the bar that there was a second bottle of the 85 Warre VP standing upright and sealed in a corner of the display case and that was enough to turn the tide AGAINST wasting $20 to sample what could potentially be a bad indicator of my own bottle at home.
Anyway, to get back to the Krohn – a half bottle purchased from a vendor in a nearby town whom I also purchased several (expensive but available!) bottles to bring back home with me. I tore the protective cap off and stood it upright for a day prior to opening. The driven cork was extracted in one piece with an Ah-so opener brought along in my luggage. While I say I did not decant, I did bring along a half dozen unbleached coffee filters knowing that I would likely be trying something that required filtering and I did use two to filter the crust/sediment off from the last glass (it was a rather large hotel red wine glass, but beggars cannot be choosers.) A lot of lumpy sediment at the bottom with more still clinging to the side of the bottle. At least I know Beltramos stored it horizontally for a long time! :)
Upon decanting
Only tried a very small sample as I had just enough time to uncork the bottle and leave it upright before heading out to a team dinner. The small pour was just enough to give me the impression of a wine that is starting to approach tawny – still ruby in the center but fading to a light red with orange on the outer rim.
First smell and sip gave no impressionable alcohol. Nice flavours, although not a brash, bold fruit at this point. I would say that raspberries, ripe plums and perhaps even a very slight licorice tint to this wine were the only fruits that were available, although all were muted.
+3.5 hours
Returning from a team dinner at a local Fish Market (for Jay and Rich’s benefit who live in the area, we went to the Santa Clara location.) I had the opportunity to try the Graham’s 20 yr Tawny after dinner and did so with much relish – I have a bottle in the basement which is waiting for a special occasion as it is a bit of a price concern here – I am happy to report notes of brown sugar, caramel, toffee, strong raisins and a slight hint of cinnamon in this. It went fabulously with the very good Crème Brulee for dessert.
I was really looking forward to the Krohn Vintage though and took the time to have a proper glass and made the remainder of my companions wait for me in the lobby (we were headed out to a local billiard hall to pass a bit fo time away, but I wanted to take some proper notes with a decent sized glass.)
No change to the colour, still bricky/orange on the outer rim. The meniscus was actually less clear than any other port I have had in recent memory. Knowing that this producer is not in the top one or two tiers, I speculated that this might be the reason.
The port was good but not great. At only 16 years of age, I do remember thinking “is it possible that this is fully mature and approaching that point where it might start to go into decline already?” Not having a tremendous amount of experience with decently-aged port, I am going to reserve final judgment on this. I would actually like to acquire a full bottle of this Vintage, to try again relatively soon to determine if it is a bit early-aged due to living in a 375 mL bottle.
Similar notes, a tad of licorice, but velvet smooth. I wondered if there was ANY spirit present as neither the nose nor the palate gave any indication of such. I could have been sipping a (very old) glass of grape juice with some of the fruit removed.
+6 hours
After returning from the Billiards hall (you UK guys will be pleased to know that despite playing ‘8-ball’ rather than snooker, the gentleman from the UK beat both me and our American friend properly!) I re-addressed this bottle. Knowing it had all the sediment still in the bottom, I poured with a level of care and caution that I did not know I had. I was successful, right to the last glass, at extracting only liquid from the bottle. With the last glass came a bunch of sediment, so something I have now nicknamed my “emergency hotel room decanting procedure” became borne (involving the aforementioned coffee filters.)
The Port did not seem to change much with 6 hours of air. I suspected it might, but did not. Had I had a full 750 mL bottle, I might have been able to notice further evolution after the 9 hour mark, but the remaining notes consist of the 6-9 hour timeframe, during which my precious cargo returning to Canada with me was packed carefully into my bag along with all my clothes. I was flying out on the evening of the last day of the workshop, so was checking out of the hotel the next morning.
Colour did not change at all (or if it did, was lost on me in the dim light of the hotel room.) The nose changed slightly, ridding itself of any trace of licorice after the 3.5 hour tasting. The taste and palate did not change a bit. The port was very smooth and velvety. It was very nice. but lacked the backbone (IMHO) to last another decade. I found myself wondering time and time again as the bottle quickly emptied itself, whether this could be attributed to the fact that it was a half bottle and had matured a bit quicker than its cousins and brothers in 750 and larger sizes. If not, I suspect that if folks out there have much of this kicking around in their cellars and do NOT drink up with the next 5 years, there may be some disappointment.
I know this is not a top tier producer and I wonder if this is one of the reasons why. I would very much like to get the chance to hear of someone out there with a proper full bottle to see if the comparisons are the same. If I find one available locally I will purchase it for comparison to determine if I was thrown off due to the smaller bottle size or accurate. If you have it – lets try one to see. You may find out that it will drink much sooner than initiall expected!
To rate it
I will score it as a 5-3. I do believe it will not last another decade. For immediate gratification it is somewhere in the middle-lower class.
Todd
