As with every other vineyard the Port vintage wines have their good and bad years. Some of the good and bad vintages which have been particularly recognized during the last 120 years are as follows:

Port Vintages

1800 bad

1802 good

1803 good

1804 good

1805 ordinary

1806 very good 1812 very fine

1815 very fine

1820 very fine

1821 fine

1822 fine 1827 very fine 1830 fine 1834 excellent 1840 very fine 1842 fine 1844 very fine 187 excellent

1850 good dry - oldium appeared

1851 very fine, some went wrong

1853 very fine, fruity, some went wrong

1854 good at first, but went sour, oldium being at its worst

1858 very good, big, dry, the first healthy wine since 1850 1861 good 1863 excellent, rich

1868 very fine

1869 some good

1870 very fine

1872 some good

1873 some good

1875 good, matured quickly 1878 very fine 1881 good, light, flavory 1884 good, like 1875

1887 very good, not big, "Jubilee Port"

1888 only fit for the still

Port Vintages (Continued)

1889 good, light, not vintage year

1890 good, best Quintas, very good

1893 bad, mildew began

1894 some rather good

1896 very fine, well bred (Noval, a great success)

1897 useful

1900 fair

1902 some fine Quinta wine

1904 very good

1908 very fine

1911 some fair, "drought year"

1912 fine (Noval, a great success)

1913 failure

1834, 1847, 1863, 1870, 1878, 1887, 1896 and 1908 are the outstanding vintages of the century.

1912 promises to be one of the best of recent years.

Poets love Port. Mr. Comyns Carr, the dramatist, delivered an address in Liverpool entitled "Authors I have known"1 in which he relates the following story:

Irving told me that while preparing for rehearsal of one of Tennyson's plays he went to visit the poet. At dinner Tennyson said "Irving, you like a glass of Port, don't you?" Irving said, "Yes, I do," whereupon the poet poured him out a glass of Port and finished the bottle himself. A long time after this when Irving was giving "Becket" he again visited the poet, who was then under a doctor's strict orders. After dinner the Port was again put on the table and Tennyson said: "Irving you like a glass of Port?" "Yes," said Irving, "I do." Irving in telling the story, said: "Tennyson took the glass, and I finished the bottle." The next morning Irving was awakened by Tennyson himself, who said: "How are you Irving?" to which Irving replied: "Oh, very well, very well," whereupon Tennyson added: "Are you? You drank a lot of Port last night.

Browning also was fond of Port. He took it at soup and finished a bottle during dinner. He told Mr. Carr a story about his father, who also loved Port, so the liking seems to have been inherited. Browning's father, seeing the poet drinking a glass of water, turned to him and said, "Water, Robert? For washing purposes I believe it is useful; for navigable canals I am informed it is indispensable, but for drinking - Robert, God never intended it."