stewarttodd.com » Wine http://www.stewarttodd.com Mon, 05 Sep 2011 05:19:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Quest for the 1971 Vintage http://www.stewarttodd.com/2010/04/27/quest-for-the-1971-vintage/ http://www.stewarttodd.com/2010/04/27/quest-for-the-1971-vintage/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:32:22 +0000 Stewart http://www.stewarttodd.com/?p=475 A few years ago, I had the wonderful experience of being able to celebrate my friend Roy’s 50th birthday a weekend full of wine events. It was a memorable weekend for a number of reasons, including the friends that flew in from all over the globe to join, and the amazing wines that we consumed. The 50+ wines we drank that weekend reads like a “who’s who” of the wine and Port world: Mouton Rothschild, Romanee-Conti, Quilceda Creek, Caymus, Penfolds, Beaucastel, Musar. The Ports were equally impressive, but more so for their age: most of the bottles were from the early 1900′s, with a bottle of 1890 Colheita Port and two bottles of 1815 Vintage Port.

For a full review of the weekend (including tasting notes) see the post here.

I took inspiration from this event, and decided some time ago that for my next significant birthday (my 40th), I’d incorporate a wine tasting of some sort to celebrate wines from the year of my birth – 1971. Having just celebrated my 39th birthday a few days ago, I have officially kicked off my quest to acquire some representative wines from the 1971 vintage to open in April 2011 as I officially leave my “30′s”.

I start with two wines already in my possession, both gifts from my friend Roy on previous birthdays.

1971 Quinta do Noval Colheita Port1971 Noval Colheita Port

As much as I am a fan of Port, 1971 wasn’t such a great year in Portugal for wines. This is one of the only Ports from 1971 that you can probably find out in the marketplace today. I’ve had the privilege of tasting a bottle of this Colheita Port on one occasion before and it was quite remarkable.

Here is my tasting note from the last time I tried this wine:

“Bottled 1999. Brilliant caramel in color, with aromas of spice and carmarlized sugar. Smooth and coating in the mouth, with great acidity. The alcohol still remains very balanced in this wine, and the wine has notes of dried cherries on the long finish. 94 points.” (Sept. 27, 2008)

Unlike Vintage Ports which are aged in barrels for 18 months and then bottled for additional aging, tawny Ports remain aging in barrels until they are ready to be bottled and sold. This allows gradual evaporation and oxidation that give the wine both it’s golden-brown color and typical nutty or caramel flavors.

A quick primer on Tawny Ports…

Tawny Ports without any age or date indicated on the label are basic tawny Ports, which are blended Ports and have spent at least seven years in barrel.

Tawny Ports with age indications like 10, 20, 30 or 40 years old are blends of wine from multiple years, with an average age of the wine inside at least 10, 20, 30 or 40 years old, respectively.

The third type is the Colheita Port (Colheita is Portuguese for “vintage”), which is a tawny Port blended from grapes from a single vintage year (like 1971).

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