1963 Fonseca Vintage Port -- rediscovered

[John Woodward]

I don’t have many 63 VPs left anymore. I had purchased most of them in the late 70s from Skinflints in Atlanta, where I would participate with a couple of other Burg fanatics in shipping a palate of old Maison Leroy wines from Burgundy. I usually drank the VPs mostly at special dinners, rarely if it was just my wife and I. Nonetheless, they have dwindled to a handful or so. My last 63 Fonseca note on what I thought was the last bottle of a case was December 2001. But it turns out it wasn’t my last bottle…

I was recently asked to give one of my “canned talks” on wine faults to a tasting dinner group. It’s not my favorite topic, but the dinner featured a vertical of Monfortino. I’ll talk about aliens for a vertical of Monfortino. What makes a wine shitty seems to be of more interest to young enthusiasts than what makes a wine great…or even what makes a wine a wine. When something is shitty, everyone seems to want to know why. When a wine has great aromas or great flavors, nobody seems to want to know how it got there. I’ve likened it to accidents on the highway. Everyone stops and wants to know what happened. What did someone do wrong? No one seems interested in how the 1 million cars the day before went through that same complex interchange without mishap, or about the most awe inspiring engineering ever done on a highway. Half of them were texting their significant others while traveling through. Talking about the chemistry of what makes wines yummy sends most everyone to their iPhone. Anyway, back to this tasting group. They wanted my canned talk on wine faults, aromas, and flavors. But at the same time, the fellow who called me lamented that they didn’t have any Monfortinos before 78. He knew I had some old Italians, so I offered to find a 71 Monfortino to add to their dinner. Since my cellar is only roughly organized, if at all, I began moving cases around where I thought most of my old Barolos were hiding. That’s when I found an undisturbed case of 63 Fonseca I didn’t know I had. So, naturally, I brought a bottle (actually two) along with the Monfortino to the dinner.

Holy crap! If Hunter Thompson had a case of these in his trunk, he never would have bothered to go to Vegas. He would have left the ether at home, too. Decanted for about 6 hours before (I have a special case that secures decanters to go to tastings and such), the color was a radiant ruby, with just a touch of rosewood in the rim. The aromas were hard to describe. Red fruit mixed with a touch of caramel, with an intoxicating white flower top note, and stuff in the background that I still smell but have no idea what it was. One of those wines you just can’t get your nose out of the glass to drink it. But once I did, there was layer upon layer of concentrated fruit and spice on the palate, yet it was one of the most airy and elegant textures I have experienced in a port. There was no alcohol to find, in fact one of the participants asked if they fortified port “in the old days.” The finish didn’t disappoint, going on forever. I noticed that I wasn’t the only one who abandoned their chocolate torte (or whatever it was) just to bask in this wine. It was hard to talk about barnyard and wet cardboard after this wine, so I launched into a rambling dissertation on wine aging chemistry, and why that matters more than VA and all the rest. And I noticed that the second bottle of the port (I usually bring an unopened second just in case) had been opened and was making its rounds, so I just sat down and tried to figure out with everyone there where those spectacular aromas and flavors came from. And the Monfortino…I think it is finally entering its drinking window. I had the second bottle tonite just to be sure…

[Peter W. Meek]

Super note; super story. Thank you.

[Gary Richardson]

Thanks for the note on this amazing Vintage Port. It is still my favorite, though becoming increasingly difficult (and expensive!) to find.

-- Gary

[David Spriggs]

Thank you for the amazing story! I remember finding a lost case of 1977 Warre's and how surprised I was by that... but that's nothing compared to your gem. I just bought a case of 1963 Fonseca last week so it makes me feel good that yours showed so well. It sounded so amazing... and I'm sure it was!

I'll bring up one observation. So many wine drinkers today say that they don't drink or like Port. But I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a write up on a big tasting where a Vintage Port ends up being the wine of the night. I just think that many wine drinkers today have no experience with mature port.

John, do you know if your 1963 Fonseca was Oporto or English bottled?
-Dave-

[Eric Menchen]

Yes, thank-you for the note and story.

Now as for you people that just find a case of Port in your cellars ... What's up with that? I'll admit I'm an organizational geek, but really? Too much good stuff lying around?

[David Spriggs]

Now as for you people that just find a case of Port in your cellars ... What's up with that? I'll admit I'm an organizational geek, but really? Too much good stuff lying around?

Well.. a bit of a story behind that. At the time I purchased the case of 1977 Warre's it was being blown out by Trader Joe's for a ridiculous price - $19.99 / bottle. I bought at least 5 or 6 cases. I put mine in my long term storage cellar. Many of those cases that I purchased were sold to friends. One of my friends drank some from his case and then asked me to put the remaing case in my cellar. He was rapidly drinking them up and didn't want to just drink through them quickly. Since he didn't have a cool place to store it, I put it in my long-term storage cellar. At some point I moved some cases of his from my long-term storage cellar to my other cellar. Then I forgot all about this. At some point I did an inventory of my other cellar and ran across a case of 1977 Warre's. It was obvious to me that this was his case (it was partially filled with 1983 Dow - which is one of his favorites). A couple of years later, I went back to my long-term storage cellar to do an inventory, I discovered a case of 1977 Warre's. This had to be mine. Found wine! I took a bottle over to my buddies house and opened it with very little expectation (since the last bottle of this was showing quite a bit of spirit and seemed to be falling apart). It was spectacular..... the best 1977 Warre's I've had. Who knew?!
-Dave-

[John Woodward]

John, do you know if your 1963 Fonseca was Oporto or English bottled?
-Dave-

Oporto, with the typical petrified wax capsule...

[Peter W. Meek]

... I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a write up on a big tasting where a Vintage Port ends up being the wine of the night....

Certainly the 1966 Graham's I tasted at a casino-comp wine dinner many years ago influenced me to take an interest in port.

[Peter W. Meek]

...Now as for you people that just find a case of Port in your cellars ... What's up with that?...

It can happen. I really do inventory my cellar regularly, but sometimes a wine just doesn't catch the eye and languishes beyond all reason. Not often port in my case, because I don't have a lot of ports. However there have been a lot of drink-me-now wines that slip my attention and get "lost" in the cellar.

[Glenn E.]

Now as for you people that just find a case of Port in your cellars ... What's up with that?

I don't even have a real cellar - just two full-size wine refrigerators - and yet I still occasionally manage to "find" bottles in there that I had forgotten about. Sure, had I looked on CellarTracker I would have known that they were in there somewhere, but I tend to only use CellarTracker when adding or removing bottles from inventory. When I feel like opening a bottle of Port I either have something specific in mind or I just go to the fridge and wait for something to call to me.

[David Spriggs]

I just go to the fridge and wait for something to call to me.

LOL!

[Jim R.]

Folks
Even the best organizer sometimes forgets to mark down a take out after a big wine and port dinner. Happens particularly when it is a last minute one. That is why I do a full inventory about once a year. I don't have this "mana from heaven" happen with my ports but have had it in the table wines (more table wines than ports in the cellar, sorry to say). Happy drinking!

[Roy Hersh]

Great post John, thanks for a fine read.

I had the 1963 Fonseca last Monday as part of a crazy diagonal of 1963, 1966 and 1970 Fonseca, Taylor and Croft at the source. The 1963 Fonseca was the group favorite that day. What a great find in your cellar!