1963 is the benchmark declared Port vintage of the twentieth century. Every major house declared, the wines were built on a scale that took decades to unwind, and plenty of them are still being opened today at sixty-three years old. Vintage Port is the one old wine that survives this long in good order as a matter of routine rather than luck.
Ferreira is thoroughly Portuguese in a trade largely founded by British families. The house dates from 1751 and was run through the nineteenth century by Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, who bought up quintas along the Douro during the phylloxera collapse and became something close to a national figure. The grapes come off steep schist terraces above the river; fermentation is stopped with grape spirit while the wine is still sweet, leaving it fortified to around twenty per cent.
A bottle like this will have thrown a heavy crust. Stand it upright for a full day, then decant carefully off the sediment.
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Producer: Ferreira
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Wine: Vintage Port
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Vintage: 1963
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Appellation: Porto DO
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Format: 75cl
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Region: Port, Portugal
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Style: Sweet or fortified
Where it is likely to be now. Of everything in this age bracket, a declared vintage Port is the most likely to still be drinking properly, and a sound 1963 can hold for years yet.
Who it suits. The safest old-vintage gift there is, which makes it right for a sixty-third birthday where the recipient will actually want to open the bottle.
Condition. Graded good for its age, with damage to the wax capsule — that wax is decorative, and it is the cork underneath that seals the bottle.
Provenance. Bought to order from a professional European merchant. We check fill, label and capsule when the bottle reaches us and photograph it before it ships.
Delivered in 7 to 10 working days, tracked. Transit cover can be added at checkout.
Sold as a collectible item, as seen. No guarantee is given on drinkability.
