It’s special drinking a wine from the year you were born, especially when it’s on your birthday. Last month, I decided to open a 1958 Martinez Vintage Port for my birthday with a dozen or so friends after a number of gorgeous bottles and great food at my restaurant in Hong Kong, James Suckling Wine Central. I felt on top of the world! I was born on Sept. 29, 1958.
I have a number of wines in my cellar from my vintage – mostly vintage Port and Barolo because it was a weak vintage in most parts of the world, particularly in Bordeaux and Burgundy. However, that makes it even more special for me when I find a good bottle from my birth year. They are very rare!
The 1958 vintage is not considered a great year, but I have always had good luck with bottles I have opened. It was not a general declaration when all the top names in Port made vintage Port. This happens on average every three years or so. The great vintages for Port at that time were 1955, 1963 and 1966. All the great names made Ports in those years, including Taylor’s, Fonseca, Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre, Quinta do Noval, Niepoort and others. Just a handful of houses bottled a 1958, including Warre and Noval and other great names like Sandeman, Rebello Valente and Martinez.
The bottle of 1958 Martinez we drank last month was uncorked at the last moment because I wasn’t sure if I would open it or not. I had an inkling that I might, though, so I stood the bottle upright in the restaurant cellar for two days before. This was to let sediment in the bottle settle to the bottom. We pulled the cork and decanted the wine about an hour in advance. We had to use a Durand corkscrew, or the cork would have broken, which is common for old Ports.
It was relatively clear and brilliant with a red garnet and slight brown hue in color as it rested in the Lalique decanter. I poured myself a half a glass (we used a regular universal glass) and it was so aromatic with cherries, dried fruits, cedar, light toffee and hints of creme caramel. The palate was light to medium-bodied, very sweet with cooked cherries, wet earth and caramel undertones. It still had a firmness and freshness, but it was going toward an old tangy Port in character with 65 years of age. It was probably bottled in 1961 so it was 62 years in bottle.
I am smiling now as I write this tribute to this old bottle, and I wonder about its history and where it went and lived before it finally found its way to me and in my decanter to share with dear friends and family. That’s the magic of drinking very old bottles, savoring the aromas, tastes, and moments of something like a 1958 Martinez. That fact it was my birthday made it even more precious.
– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman
