1966 Rocha Colheita Port

[Glenn E.]

FTLOP 4th Anniversary party
Holiday Inn, Issaquah, July 30th 2009

1. 1937 Warre Reserve Tawny (Colheita) bottled 1997
2. 1963 Niepoort Colheita bottled 1986
3. 1966 Porto Rocha Colheita bottled 1997
4. 1968 Quevedo Garrafeira Particular (Colheita) bottled 1999
5. 1963 Croft Vintage Port
6. 1963 Warre Vintage Port
7. 1966 Dow Vintage Port
8. 1967 Quinta do Noval Nacional Vintage Port

1966 Porto Rocha Colheita
bottled in 1997

Color: Medium cloudy, but otherwise a pretty standard neutral tawny color. Maybe just slightly brownish.
Nose: Leather, mild citrus, mild alcohol. Some apricot, but it's a little hard to pull out.
Palate: Bright citrus, hints of oak, lemon zest. Slightly harsh in nature, it feels a little unsettled. Medium heat and medium body weight.
Finish: Again slightly harsh in nature, but of medium length and with lots of woody notes.

Score: 92 points. I started out a point higher, but rather than improving with time in the glass it seemed to become every so slightly more disjointed. At 12 years in bottle it doesn't seem like it should still be in any sort of dumb phase, but perhaps this bottle was going to be a late bloomer. Because that's really what it felt like was going on... it was still down in the depths of the Colheita post-bottling dumb phase that usually only seems to last 7-8 or maybe 10 years.

[Glenn E.]