1963 Croft Vintage Port
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Tasting notes
Pale tawny-brown. Some brandy notes from the spirit, with a delicate floral and clove-spiced style, some faded red fruit and a touch of old leather. Sweet and rich, with some spicy, dark-chocolate notes, but ultimately starting to look a little light in flavour depth now. Floral finish. (TJ)
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The 1963 Croft Vintage Port comes from a pivotal vintage in the Douro. The nose is well defined and quite feminine with an exotic element in the background that never comes to the fore. The palate displays good concentration and balance but is let down in terms of complexity and length, a Croft “playing it safe”, conservative and reluctant to take chances. It has a certain elegance to it. (NM)
Rich and raisiny. Light nose. More than a hint of those cough sweets – Fisherman’s Friend – about it. Fully mature. (JR)
Croft never seems to get much publicity since the wines, while always very good, sometimes even excellent, never quite reach the superb level of the top houses in Oporto. However, Croft seems to do surprisingly well, often rivaling the top ports, in the less glamorous vintages such as 1975 and 1966. The 1963, one of the great vintages for port, is good but unexciting.