Vintage Summary and Recommendations: 1973 Wine and Port
A short summary of the 1973 Vintage with our top recommendations
The 1973 vintage was generally considered better than the preceding 1972 vintage, but it still wasn't a standout year for Port or wine production in Europe. In Portugal's Douro Valley, the 1973 vintage was not widely declared by Port houses. Some Port houses did produce and release 1973 vintage Ports, but they are generally considered to be of moderate quality as they tend to lack the richness and depth of better vintages. These wines would make a fabulous 52 year old wine gift for an Anniversary or birthday.
Our Wine Expert currently recommends the following wines for this year:
Quinta da Devesa 1973 Finest Reserve White port in presentation box Ryst Dupeyron Armagnac Bodegas Toro Albala 1973 Don PX Montilla Moriles, sweet wine, Spain DOliveiras Madeira 1973 Verdelho
This Year in History: Television sitcom Last of the Summer Wine begins its first series run on BBC One.The Eurovision Winner was Luxembourg with the song "Tu Te Reconnaitras" by Anne-Marie David. Tom Kerridge, Chef, was born in this year and features on the reality culinary programs MasterChef, Saturday Kitchen, and Great British Menu.
Top Grossing Movie: The Exorcist
Bordeaux: Bordeaux 1973 wines are the product of a cold, wet summer, which was made worse by a rain in late August which bloated the grapes just before harvest. When released they were light, early drinking wines and time has not improved them! If you’re seeking a gift to celebrate a birthday or anniversary, we would recommend a bottle of colheita Port or a 1973 Montilla Moriles.
The 1973 wine vintage produced an enormous crop of easy drinking wines full of succulent fruit. The best examples from vineyards that adopted good selection are still drinking well today, although wines from Pauillac and Graves stand out. The weather was dry and warm throughout most of spring, providing good conditions for flowering. Heavy rain fell during much of July, but the month that followed was hot and dry. September began fine, but wet conditions returned from the middle of the month onwards.
Italian: Only a small crop of 1973 wine was produced in Italy and the wines are now very rare. The growing season was held back by inclement weather in the main Italian wine regions of Piedmont and Tuscany. Tuscany produced a small crop of Brunello and Chianti, generally characterised as having good colour, high acidity and some dryness. The best of the vintage originates from the more southerly regions.
Portugal: 1973 was not declared and very little Port exists from this year. A wet winter followed by an inconsistent summer led to a small crop. In 1973 there was a lack of quality spirit to fortify the grapes resulting in very little Port being made. Remarkably, we discovered a cask of 1973 white colheita Port at Devesa and persuaded them to bottle it exclusively for us.
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61 products found.
Spanna, 1973
Umberto Fiore - Riserva Speciale - *** BIG BOTTLE of 5 LITRES ***
Spanna has often been cited by wine experts as one of Italy’s greatest ageing wines. Spanna’s longevity can be attributed, at least in part, to the addition of smaller amounts of less tannic, more acidic grape varieties. Tasting notes: The nose opens up beautifully after about an hour and the wine has gorgeous ripe and sweet fruit, nice acidity, and perfectly softened tannins.
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Price: $505.47 USD
Stock: 1 in Stock
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Spanna, 1973
Vecchio Castello
** BIG BOTTLE OF 3,78 LITRES **
Spanna has often been cited by wine experts as one of Italy’s greatest ageing wines. Spanna’s longevity can be attributed, at least in part, to the addition of smaller amounts of less tannic, more acidic grape varieties. Tasting notes: The nose opens up beautifully after about an hour and the wine has gorgeous ripe and sweet fruit, nice acidity, and perfectly softened tannins.
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Price: $510.59 USD
Stock: 1 in Stock
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Spanna, 1973
Antonio Vallana - Campi Raudi
Spanna has often been cited by wine experts as one of Italy’s greatest ageing wines. Spanna’s longevity can be attributed, at least in part, to the addition of smaller amounts of less tannic, more acidic grape varieties. Tasting notes: The nose opens up beautifully after about an hour and the wine has gorgeous ripe and sweet fruit, nice acidity, and perfectly softened tannins.
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Price: $177.87 USD
Stock: 16 in Stock
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Spanna, 1973
F.lli Berteletti
Spanna has often been cited by wine experts as one of Italy’s greatest ageing wines. Spanna’s longevity can be attributed, at least in part, to the addition of smaller amounts of less tannic, more acidic grape varieties. Tasting notes: The nose opens up beautifully after about an hour and the wine has gorgeous ripe and sweet fruit, nice acidity, and perfectly softened tannins.
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Price: $126.69 USD
Stock: 1 in Stock
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Taylor Fladgate, 1973
Crusted Port - Bottled in 1973
Crusted Port is a very small category, named because of the 'crust' of sediment that it forms in the bottle.
Invented by the British-owned Port houses predominantly for the British Port drinker, it is intended to be a more economical alternative to Vintage or Late Bottled Vintage.
Crusted is a blend of several harvests, which are bottled without being filtered and laid down to mature like Vintage wines. Using this approach allows the manufacturer to use some of the lesser harvests but still produce a good rich full bodied wine at an economical price.
Usually a year is stated on the label which, because the wine was made from a blend of harvests, is the year in which the wine was bottled. …
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Price: $415.89 USD
Stock: 7 in Stock
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Valpolicella, 1973
Ombreta - Cantina Sociale Negrar
Half Price Clearance Offer | Was £79 | Now £39.50
The Valpolicella zone is bordered to the west by the Bardolino DOC, located along the banks of Lake Garda, which produces similar wines to basic Valpolicella using many of the same grapes. The historical "heart" of Valpolicella winemaking is in the Monti Lessini hills located northwest of the town of Verona. In 1968, the boundaries of the region were extended far eastward towards the DOC production zone of Soave and south to the plains of the northern bank of the Po river and its tributary the Adige.
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Price: $50.55 USD
Stock: 2 in Stock
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Valtellina, 1973
Runchet - A. Pelizzatti
Valtellina is one of Italy’s most dramatic wine regions, located in Lombardy, the vineyards are located on steep mountains. The principal grape variety is Chiavennasca (the local name for Piedmont’s Nebbiolo and an Italian grape varietal that has been cultivated since medieval times here). The DOCG wines are generally comprised of at least 90% Chiavennasca and then blended with other quality local grapes like Brugnola, Rossola, Pignola. Then there is a DOC Valtellina Rosso (also called Rosso di Valtellina DOC) which requires at least 80% of the blend be Chiavennasca and does not have minimum ageing requirements. …
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Price: $113.89 USD
Stock: 8 in Stock
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Valtellina, 1973
Cantina Coop. Villa
Clearance Offer | Was £89 | Now £40
Valtellina is one of Italy’s most dramatic wine regions, located in Lombardy, the vineyards are located on steep mountains. The principal grape variety is Chiavennasca (the local name for Piedmont’s Nebbiolo and an Italian grape varietal that has been cultivated since medieval times here). The DOCG wines are generally comprised of at least 90% Chiavennasca and then blended with other quality local grapes like Brugnola, Rossola, Pignola. Then there is a DOC Valtellina Rosso (also called Rosso di Valtellina DOC) which requires at least 80% of the blend be Chiavennasca and does not have minimum ageing requirements. …
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Price: $53.75 USD
Stock: 9 in Stock
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Vecchio Maniero, 1973
Marchesi di Barolo
This wine from the good 1973 vintage is made with the long lived Nebbiolo grape. this is a black-skinned red wine grape variety most famous for creating the 'tar and roses' scent of Barolo wines from Piedmont, north-western Italy. The grape's very name is evocative of its home among the misty foothills of the western Alps; the nebbia (Italian for 'fog') after which it is named frequently arrives on early October mornings, when the Nebbiolo harvest is in full swing.
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Price: $152.28 USD
Stock: 1 in Stock
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Vernaccia di Sardegna, 1973
Vini Classici di Sardegna
This is a sherry-like wine made in Sardegna Vernaccia, like Muscat, Malvasia and Clairette, is a name applied to several distinct grape varieties, rather than identifying a single one definitively. The reason for this is simply that the name derives from the Latin word for 'domestic' or 'native' – in fact it is directly related to the word 'vernacular', meaning the language of a particular place or people. Vernaccia di Oristano is distinguished from other Vernaccias only by the fact that it grows around Oristano, in the west of Sardinia. It is thought to be grown nowhere else in the world. Like their Cannonau (Grenache) counterparts in Sardinia, …
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Price: $108.77 USD
Stock: 1 in Stock
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Barbera d'Alba, 1973
Cantine C. Valletti
Half Price Clearance Offer | Was £79 | Now £39.50
Barbera is a wine of prestige, rich colors that refer generally to the ruby purple, just what clothes cardinals; the bouquet is ample and composite, with fruity notes of blackberry, cherry, strawberry and red fruit jam and spicy aromas reminiscent of cinnamon, vanilla, green pepper.
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Price: $50.55 USD
Stock: Out of Stock
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