Has anyone ever heard of Hooper’s vintage port? There’s a bottle of the 1937 @ auction.
steve, pretty funny. i just have that on a post it note. i was looking through the catalogue and saw that … i’ve done some killer port sessions in my time and never seen that one. call me curious … anyone out there who knows this stuff?
Wow Diane, people from Telluride truly think alike…must be all that white powder. I’ll shot Roy Hersh a email if no one chimes in.
so i went to uber port notes – michael broadbent – and he’s rather fond of the 35 “strange, unclassic, nice though”. however, we could call those stale thoughts(1970-71). i’ve had some other 37s and that wasn’t a very good year. 35 is the money shot so i imagine anyone who stuffed anything in a bottle got the goods.
Funny you should mention that, we went head to head more than once on WB before we even knew each other.
I just got this from Roy Hersh:
Hi Steve,
I don’t know that particular bottle although Hooper’s never made any great VP. 1937 is a huge year for Colheitas and I don’t know of any Vintage Ports from that year. So, I’d ask to see if it is actually a VP, as it would not surprise me if it was a Colheita.
Steve,
If it’s the bottle I am thinking of, it is not a VP. It is a Colheita that was bottled sometime in the early to mid 1970’s IIRC. As Roy mentioned, they aren’t known for great VP’s and I don’t know many people who’ve had their colheita’s from that long ago. Add in that long in bottle for a colheita and I would tread very carefully as it could easily go either way.
This is what I love about wine boards. Thanks Andy, I was really thinking about this one.
I had seen a similar bottle come up before and I didn’t pull the trigger based on the long bottling age. IMO only a small handful of producers can pull off extended bottling age for their Colheita’s and I didn’t have enough experience with Hoopers to trust it would still show nice and vibrant.
I never heard of Hoopers…did they go under or were they bought out?
If my memory serves me they were bought out by Royal Oporto sometime in the middle of the last century. It’s not a house you hear much about in the way of older vintages of VP or Colheita’s. I know the name continued on into the 1980’s or maybe early 1990’s, but I’ve not seen recent vintages from them and don’t know if the name has carried on.
FWIW, I will add I’ve never seen glowing reviews of any of their Ports.
Thanks Andy, you really know your ports. I hope to see you when Phil and I drive his wines down to HB.
Let me know ahead of time and we all can meet up and have a fun time. I’ve got some Port and Douro wines that will blow your socks off.
But I do need to Roy credit for being a great teacher