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The oldest Port: F. Chamisso Filho et Silva 1790
The oldest Port in my collection is a F. Chamisso Filho et Silva 1790.
The bottle is one of three bottles and comes from the cellar of a quite known hanseatic family in the north of Germany which was always involved with trade through the ports of Hamburg and Bremen.
Waterloo Vintage 1815
In 1776, with the backing of a number of significant Portuguese growers, José I’s autocratic Prime Minister, best known as the Marqués de Pombal, created the Real Companhia das Vinhos do Alto Douro.*
The first vintage about which there is any real certainty is the so-called ‘Waterloo Vintage’ of 1815.*
Waterloo Vintage – Eight bottles from 1815, the year of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo by the Dutch, Prussian and British. Together more than 2000 years of Port Wine.
- One 1815 bottle F. Chamisso Filho et Silva, Porto Rex. The same bottle was sold by Christie in 2013 at an auction in Geneva.
- One 1815 vintage from Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro with the name of the Marqués de Pombal on the label.
- Another 1815 from Companhia G.al das Vinhas do Alto Douro, but another label
- Two 1815 bottles from the same company, and the same vintage – novidade – 1815
- One 1815 bottle Garrafeira from Real Companhia Vinícola do Norte
- 3 1815 bottles from Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro, bought on Madeira.
*Source: Richard Mayson, Port and the Douro
1820 Guilherme II Vintage Port
1820 Guilherme II Vintage Port
One of the best vintages of the early days of vintage port.
The 1820 vintage yielded extremely rich and ripe grapes resulting in a high concentration and delicious sweetness in the wines. “… moderately pale orange-tawny color, little hazy.
Extremely appealing nose with delicious sweet raisin aromas with plums and dates.
Spices and orange peel are pushing through as volatile flavours.
Peculiar sweet mouth-feel with high concentration. … Extremely well preserved wine.” 95 points, ranks nr. 426 in “The 1000 Finest Wines Ever Made” (European Fine Wine Magazine, 2008)
1837 Norton & Langridge
1837 Norton & Langridge Old Compeor Tawny Port
A very old tawny from the company NORTON & LANGRIDGE LIMITED – 8 Henrietta Place, London, but they stopped the business and don’t exist anymore.
Quinta de Casaldronho 1844
A Garrafeira Particular, bottled for Oscar Teixeira (dos) Santos in 1844.
This is a property with an area of 24 hectares with 15 hectares of vines. With a current production of about 100 barrels of which 30 destined for Port wine production.
The Casaldronho Farm date of the first phase in the demarcation of the region for Port wine production. It was owned by Egas Moniz, tutor of the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, was subsequently owned by D. Sofia. In the year 1885, Alódio Teixeira Santos acquired this property which remains in the family for four generations.
Scion 1855
In 2008 Taylor’s wine maker, David Guimaraens, became aware of the existence of a very old and rare cask aged port, dating from the period before Phylloxera arrived in the Douro Valley and destroyed most of its vineyards. The wine, over 150 years in age, belonged to a distinguished Douro family and was stored in a wine lodge in the village of Prezegueda in the Corgo Valley. A treasured heirloom, the wine had been passed down from one generation to the next and attempts to persuade the family to part with it had been unsuccessful.
In 2009, the sole surviving descendant of the family died leaving no children. Her heirs, not all of whom were family members, decided to sell the two casks of this unique and historically important wine. Taylor’s acquired samples and, amazingly in view of its age, found that it was not only in faultless condition but of superb quality. The purchase was successfully negotiated and the two casks were moved to the firm’s lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia on 13th January, 2010.
Porto Valriz, 1858
Very Old Tawny (Single Harvest Port)
Coimbra de Mattos
This Port wine is one of the oldest available in the world! The wine was produced in 1858 by Domingos Ayres de Mattos (1829-1890) and kept in bottles in the cellar of his residence, “Casa de Cima”. Domingos’ son Antonio Ayres de Mattos (1879-1956), father of the current owners of this family owned business, was aware of the wine’s exceptional quality and (possibly motivated by sentimental reasons), wanted to leave the destiny of such a ‘treasure’ to his heirs. The wines were tasted in 1969 and again in 2013 for quality control. Almost the entire stock was found to be in perfect condition. In 2013 the owners decided to re-bottle and sell a small quantity of this exceptional port.
1860 Porto Menéres
António Ferreira Menéres Colheita.
The “Fornecedor da casa real”
(purveyor to the royal household)
1863 Royal Oporto Wine
A pre-phylloxera port
1863 Royal Oporto Wine – “Old Company”
Old Company is the english translation of “Companhia Velha”, and was destined to the anglo-saxon market.
There were, in the use of this brand, several types of commercialized Port Wines, like Colheita, Vintage (which in the XIX century sometimes were designated by “Novidade” (novelty) – synonym of new vineyard)
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