Kopke Colheita Tawny 1975
Kopke Colheita Tawny 1975 — A 1975 Colheita Port from Kopke, with winemaking by Carlos Alves. It is the bottle with the most history in this catalogue, and two numbers explain it.
The first is 1638: the year Kopke was founded, making it the oldest Port house in existence. The second is the time in cask — a Colheita is a single-vintage Port aged in wood, and this one spent decades in barrel before bottling. Half a century of slow oxidation is what turns fruit into dried fruit and structure into silk.
That is the difference between a Colheita and a Vintage: a Vintage ages in bottle and stays red; a Colheita ages in wood, takes on an amber colour and is ready the day it is bottled. This one carries 20% alcohol.
Serve between 12 °C and 15 °C — never ice-cold, which shuts the aromatics down — in a small but wide-mouthed glass, to let it breathe. At the table: crème brûlée, tarte tatin, caramel and nut desserts, and cheeses of medium intensity. It also drinks alone, slowly, and that is probably where it gives most.
Once opened, a bottle like this keeps for months — a decisive argument for by-the-glass service and for anyone hesitating at the price. It is also a gift bottle and a birth-year wine.
The first is 1638: the year Kopke was founded, making it the oldest Port house in existence. The second is the time in cask — a Colheita is a single-vintage Port aged in wood, and this one spent decades in barrel before bottling. Half a century of slow oxidation is what turns fruit into dried fruit and structure into silk.
That is the difference between a Colheita and a Vintage: a Vintage ages in bottle and stays red; a Colheita ages in wood, takes on an amber colour and is ready the day it is bottled. This one carries 20% alcohol.
Serve between 12 °C and 15 °C — never ice-cold, which shuts the aromatics down — in a small but wide-mouthed glass, to let it breathe. At the table: crème brûlée, tarte tatin, caramel and nut desserts, and cheeses of medium intensity. It also drinks alone, slowly, and that is probably where it gives most.
Once opened, a bottle like this keeps for months — a decisive argument for by-the-glass service and for anyone hesitating at the price. It is also a gift bottle and a birth-year wine.
More about this wine
