For The Love Of Port

Al B. wrote:Here we discuss what the oldest bottles of port or colheita are in our cellars, but that got me to wondering about the verticals that we put together. I know one port collector who loves Vargellas ports and he is 2 vintages away from having put together a complete vertical of Vargellas from 1958 through to 2004.

By comparison, my longest unbroken vertical is a complete 22 vintage, 24 year vertical of Vesuvio from 1989 to 2012. Must be time for another Vesuvio vertical tasting soon...

My second longest is Dow - 7 vintages from 1955 to 1972 (1955, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1972) and then 6 from 1977 to 1994 (1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1994). If I bought a Dow 1975 I would have a 14 vintage vertical.

What verticals do other people have in their cellars?

It's interesting to see how things have changed over the last few years. My Vesuvio vertical has stretched out a little further and now runs from 1989 to 2015 (27 years, 24 vintages) and my Dow vertical has grown slightly in vintages although not in years now that I have better information on which vintages they shipped. I now have Dow from 1966 to 1994 (10 vintages). I'm missing 1964 which breaks the vertical. Damn!

And the other vertical of any length I have is Graham from 1942 to 1997 (16 vintages). Over the last couple of years I seem to have acquired a bottle of Graham 1975, which has linked the older wines to the younger wines.

I'm not sure about Noval. I have only really been building a recent vertical (post acquisition by AXA). My post AXA vertical is complete from 1997 to 2015 (10 vintages) — I am missing 1996.

Mine is rather odd...I have every Quinta do Crasto LBV from 2004 to 2011....think the 12s are out.

I just looked at the prices of 1998, 1999, and 2000 Noval Nacional. I guess I won't be making a big vertical of that any time soon. I had been thinking about getting a 2004 now that they've been released.

Eric Menchen wrote:I just looked at the prices of 1998, 1999, and 2000 Noval Nacional. I guess I won't be making a big vertical of that any time soon. I had been thinking about getting a 2004 now that they've been released.

I would like to have a few Nacional's in my collection.

I have a bunch of Nacional but it is only complete 1963-1994.

My longest string would be 1927-2003 Cockburn's with the 1945 and 1955 missing.

My Graham's vertical is now 20 bottles if you count Stone Terraces, stretching from 1945 to 2015 Stone Terraces (and includes 2011 Stone Terraces). It's Graham's only - not Malvedos - but as mentioned I do include Stone Terraces because there are only 2 of them so far.

My longest string would be 1927-2003 Cockburn's with the 1945 and 1955 missing

The '45 was not declared, but does exist and is a lovely wine. At a Cockburn vertical in Germany a few years back, the small British contingent (and with no bias whatsoever - we didn't even think about the significance of the date) concluded that without doubt it was the wine of the night, yet none of the Germans could bring themselves to come anywhere close to concurring, and many passed their glasses to us.

That year still hurts..

John M. wrote:Mine is rather odd...I have every Quinta do Crasto LBV from 2004 to 2011....think the 12s are out.

John, I can beat that 2003-2012 plus some 1994 that I need to drink over the next couple of years.

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:40 am My Graham's vertical is now 20 bottles if you count Stone Terraces, stretching from 1945 to 2015 Stone Terraces (and includes 2011 Stone Terraces). It's Graham's only - not Malvedos - but as mentioned I do include Stone Terraces because there are only 2 of them so far.

Hey Glenn, don’t you need to update this now that you have some 1942 in your cellar?

Al B. wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 8:06 am

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:40 am My Graham's vertical is now 20 bottles if you count Stone Terraces, stretching from 1945 to 2015 Stone Terraces (and includes 2011 Stone Terraces). It's Graham's only - not Malvedos - but as mentioned I do include Stone Terraces because there are only 2 of them so far.

Hey Glenn, don’t you need to update this now that you have some 1942 in your cellar?

Indeed! It now goes from 1942 to 2017, and will soon include the recently announced 2021 Graham's The Stone Terraces. That's 3 new vintages (1942, 2016, 2017) and 3 new GST (2016, 2017, and 2021). I somehow missed the 2020 Graham VP so will need to pick that up as well. That will make my vertical 27 bottles of which 5 will be Stones Terraces.

I believe my longest complete vertical is Warre's VP from 1960 through 2017, with possibly the exception of a 2009 missing.
(just updated this because I found an old invoice which said I have a 1960 somewhere in my cellar.)

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 4:43 pm I believe my longest complete vertical is Warre's VP from 1963 through 2017, with possibly the exception of a 2009 missing.

Let me know when you're going to host that vertical. I can bring the 2009 and some interesting Cavadinhas.

Eric Menchen wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 9:57 pm

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 4:43 pm I believe my longest complete vertical is Warre's VP from 1960 through 2017, with possibly the exception of a 2009 missing.

Let me know when you're going to host that vertical. I can bring the 2009 and some interesting Cavadinhas.

If I tasted all of those in one sitting, I'd end up drinking them from the floor.

I feel like that scientist from Independence Day when he says, "you guys want to see them?" with my answer being a Rozes vertical, lol.

Lucas S wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:45 pm I feel like that scientist from Independence Day when he says, "you guys want to see them?" with my answer being a Rozes vertical, lol.

That was Brent Spiner aka Data. Any Port is a good Port if you like the palate. I have a few Rozes as well. I tried their over 40 y.o. Tawny a few years back and it was decent.

Mike J. W. wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 1:34 pm If I tasted all of those in one sitting, I'd end up drinking them from the floor.

Doesn't need to be one sitting. Could be two sittings, or three over two days ...

Lucas S wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:45 pm I feel like that scientist from Independence Day when he says, "you guys want to see them?" with my answer being a Rozes vertical, lol.

I have a few Rozès is the cellar. You never know. I recall a 1997 horizontal tasting we did a few years ago with many producers including all of the top ones (20+, maybe even 30 bottles), and Cálem was a clear winner. Now you are tempting me to throw a Rozès into an upcoming blind tasting.

I just checked my cellar software and my longest complete vertical is of Noval Nacional. This vertical spans the period from 1960 to present. Apparently I also have an almost complete vertical of Taylor from 1955 to present, but there are a couple of holes that need to be filled.

Marc J. wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:08 pm I just checked my cellar software and my longest complete vertical is of Noval Nacional. This vertical spans the period from 1960 to present. Apparently I also have an almost complete vertical of Taylor from 1955 to present, but there are a couple of holes that need to be filled.

I have a few Nacionals, but the oldest is only 1991, and there are definitely some holes.

Marc J. wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:08 pm I just checked my cellar software and my longest complete vertical is of Noval Nacional. This vertical spans the period from 1960 to present. Apparently I also have an almost complete vertical of Taylor from 1955 to present, but there are a couple of holes that need to be filled.

Ooh, do you have the (in)famous 1962 which was actually a blend? IIRC it's 1961 and 1962 blended together. No idea how they managed to release that as a 1962, but that's at least the story that I've been told.

To be honest, I was not looking towards building a Noval Nacional vertical but a few months ago I was looking at my cellar software and I noticed that I was just 4 bottles short of a vertical. I was missing the 1962, 1964, 1980 & the 1999. A couple of days after this a 1962 became available and I snapped it up! The 1964 & 1980 required quite a bit of effort (ALOT of effort), but ultimately I was was able to get my hands on them. The 1999 was the last piece of the puzzle…I subsequently received an email from a retailer that listed it as being available - and that was that! Whew!