I've tasted madiera-style wine from Crimea IIRC from the 1800s. It was in an Enomatic machine in Hedonism Wines in London. I could not say it was appreciably better than something more modern.
On the other hand, I've had a glass of tawny port from the 1970s that Chez Bruce had on the menu at one point that kicked off a fruitless search into every barrel aged fortified wine I could get my hands on to recapture. It had a caramel taste that lingered for 30 minutes or more after the last sip. Amazing stuff.
Firstly, even if you find fortified wines like port a little rich, please don't discount the other wines of the Douro Valley. They make some fabulous reds in particular and are good value.
Secondly, for history buffs, I hand you a rabbit hole. Why do so many of the great port brands have very British sounding names?
Champagne has an interesting tie to the UK as well.
Agree with you about Douro Valley. Separately the oldest port I’ve had was something like a 1928 Seppeltsfield (don’t recall the exact year). The nose was incredible and at that age, not very sweet at all. How was it served? About a spoon’s worth, dip your finger in and rub on your lips haha. You can find the bottles though, it’s not super expensive. Really cool if you haven’t had something like that before.
Not quite 150 years old, but I've got a bottle of Taylor's 1896 Single Harvest Port in a bonded warehouse in the UK. Not sure I'll ever find the right situation to justify partaking of its 130 year vintage.
I've tasted madiera-style wine from Crimea IIRC from the 1800s. It was in an Enomatic machine in Hedonism Wines in London. I could not say it was appreciably better than something more modern.
On the other hand, I've had a glass of tawny port from the 1970s that Chez Bruce had on the menu at one point that kicked off a fruitless search into every barrel aged fortified wine I could get my hands on to recapture. It had a caramel taste that lingered for 30 minutes or more after the last sip. Amazing stuff.
A couple of tangential comments
Firstly, even if you find fortified wines like port a little rich, please don't discount the other wines of the Douro Valley. They make some fabulous reds in particular and are good value.
Secondly, for history buffs, I hand you a rabbit hole. Why do so many of the great port brands have very British sounding names?
Champagne has an interesting tie to the UK as well.
Agree with you about Douro Valley. Separately the oldest port I’ve had was something like a 1928 Seppeltsfield (don’t recall the exact year). The nose was incredible and at that age, not very sweet at all. How was it served? About a spoon’s worth, dip your finger in and rub on your lips haha. You can find the bottles though, it’s not super expensive. Really cool if you haven’t had something like that before.
Original title: 'Rubens Menin's "Very Very Old" Port wine'
Not quite 150 years old, but I've got a bottle of Taylor's 1896 Single Harvest Port in a bonded warehouse in the UK. Not sure I'll ever find the right situation to justify partaking of its 130 year vintage.
https://www.taylor.pt/en/port-wine/1896-single-harvest
Is this the real-life equivalent of 'I'll save that +8 Strength potion for a real battle, oh the game is finished'.