Please help me identifying this wine

Well my question is is that I obtained 2 bottles of wine from my grandfather whom passed away. The label reads : PORTO COLHEITA 1912 ENVELHECIDO EM CASCO NIEPOORT & Ca LdaUpon researching the value of these bottles I only found images with a label consisting of only text. Mine pictures what looks to be a small boy wearing a crown standing on a table surrounded by 4 woman. Would this be the same wine as the images I’m finding or is this a special version? I have attached the image of the bottle I have. I do not know anything about wines at all so I was really hoping you can maybe answer this question or maybe even give me a value or Possibly just direct me to a website where I can learn more about this anything would be great thanks in advance.

[David M. Bueker]

Unless they were very well stored (climate controlled) they are not likely worth anything much, but if you want to learn more on Port there is a site dedicated to it. It’s called For The Love of Port.

It was stored on its side my grandfather professionally stored all his wine

tthe label is torn by my daughter it was in great condition as of a week ago

The fact that this port was produced from grapes harvested the same year the Titanic sunk and depending on the fill level might gain some interest.

Salute

Colheitas aren't vintage port, but single vintage tawnys.
Auction (including vig) on Niepoort 1912 Colheita is about $500, so figure $400 selling privately.

While a generally easy going guy, I'm skeptical. If professionally stored, why wouldn't facility have given you advice? Your child tore label? If story legitimate, just contact an auction house (after all, no one had professional storage for 2 bottles, so you must have more to sell).

A colheita Porto is a tawny that comes from a single vintage, in this case 1912, which is then aged for some time in the port lodge before bottling. These wines can last for a long time and there is a chance that this wine will still be good if it was stored properly. Posting over at For the Love of Port forum is a good idea, but I would probably try contacting the Niepoort firm: http://www.niepoort-vinhos.com/en/contacts/ . They are still a top notch producer of port and table wines and Dirk Niepoort is a noted person in the Portuguese wine business.

Question for Joe. A colheita Porto has to be barrel aged at least seven years at the port lodge prior to bottling and release. Why do you see totally different labels? Import, Export markets? Is some lots of the the colheita Porto (if they are deemed worthy for longer barrel aging) held longer in barrel at the port lodge and bottled and released at different times? Thus released with a totally different label?

Salute

I can't really answer your question about the labels with any authority, but I think there can be variation depending on the market/importer. Also, there can be different bottlings from the same vintage (some contemporary bottles labeled "Bottled in XXXX"), so it is conceivable that the labels will be different.

There was a time (he says vaguely) when importers would do the bottling. Indeed it still happens with some cheaper wines. So I wouln't worry about the label.

But is this really what we now think of as a Colheita port? I am not sure when the term came into use with that meaning. Colheita means vintage in Portuguese, and on the label it is used in small print above the year, so maybe that is what it indicates here.

Edit: OK, having seen some more old labels, I am more convinced that it is a "proper" colheita port. Would still be interested in the history of the term if anyone knows.

I always found it interesting that the Anglo/American port lovers tend to focus on vintage (ruby) ports while for the Portuguese the top Portos tend to be old tawnies or colheitas. In Portuguese restaurants with good wine lists there will often be fine tawnies on offer BTG, but seldom much in the way of vintage/LBV. I would occasionally have a glass of an older colhieta at a restaurant (the oldest probably being the '53 Dalva white) as it is crazy expensive to buy a whole bottle. For me, something like a 10 year Kopke hits a nice sweet spot in QPR.

After looking at the Niepoort website, I do think it would be a good idea for the OP to contact them to get some info on their wine. They even have some notes on a 1900 colheita on their site!.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to reply and all the helpful information I am going to contact the company as advised, again thank you.

Some might find the following link interesting

http://niepoort-vinhos.com/en/press/pdf ... 912.en.pdf

Salute

[Jenise]

Good luck, Monique! Those are very interesting bottles.