For The Love Of Port

Ah, I didn't quite mean literally as a cellaring business. :o I meant more as if some private collector decides he/she wants to unload some port that the individual doesn't want any more, they sell it to a wine merchant who in turn would sell it to me at market rates. Right now, though more expensiv...

I'm with you guys in that I find the financial reality in the lopsided pricing (a la 03's v. old, prime vintages) to be seriously off-putting. I'm also new at this game and, earlier this year, dove into buying a few bottles of 03's en primeur , but I'll tell you I came to my senses quickly and that ...

On the less gourmet side of things, but darn good nonetheless, I recently had a nice, thick, grilled ribeye steak with a '97 Quinta do Noval LBV. Thought it went perfectly well together!

At the risk of asking a question which no one is willing share their secrets, what are some of the retailers (local or online) that people find have the best selection or pricing? Many thanks! David In the San Francisco Bay Area: K&L Wine Merchants (online at http://www.klwines.com ) - Good sel...

Hello Nick, Thanks for your input on Sauternes. I'm looking forward to expanding my experience in that direction. I'll keep in mind those vintages and those houses you mentioned. Cheers on that one! :D In the meantime, I thought I'd share a surprising value I stumbled on. On a lark, I swung by a loc...

Nice one, Nick! I'd be okay with half-bottles, it's just I have limited experience with Sauternes. I've also been eyeing that Suduirant, since, like you said, it's going for $60 a pop, which seems like a song for a 15 yr old bottle of Sauternes. Also, locally, I've seen '98/'99 Raymond Lafon Sautern...

Okay, my first topic started at any wine-oriented forum... Knowing that many of you in the Port-lover community potentially have more than the average Jane/Joe in sweet wines, can anyone recommend a good botrytised or botrytis-style sweet wine in the US$10-25 range? An Australian wine perhaps? I jus...

I'm with you Monique in terms of enjoying 20's over 10's. I have yet to try 30+ tawnies, since I, too, feel that they are too pricey relative to other things I can spend on at that price point.

I really enjoy Noval's 20 as well as Sandeman's 20.

Harris, Have you tried the Ferreira Duque de Braganca 20 year old Tawny? Roy, you are sooooooo baiting me on that one... 8) :lol: My wallet needs to recover from a recent, unplanned purchase of a Pinot Gris SGN. The purchase occurred AFTER I told myself I need to cool my jets for a while... Cheers ...

What I am looking to find out is, what is your comfort zone in terms of spending on a 750 of Port? ... Please do specify the types of each that you most commonly purchase. For example, for Ports it might be LBV, 20 year Tawny or Colheita. For Madeira it might be Rainwater, 10 year old, or a Solera....

50% of my modest cellar is Port (mostly VP, some LBV), with an additional 12% of other sweet and/or fortified wines (mostly BA/TBA)...I like sweet wines...and not just for dessert! Ah! Glad I'm not the only one! :D My better half and I also have a modest cellar. Though recently, it's been growing a...

Generally, I like VP and LBV's with nice dark chocolate that has fruit/berry overtones.

I actually enjoy tawnies by themselves, often when kicking back to some nice small combo jazz playing over the hi-fi.

Just depends on mood or activity for me.

Though I most often enjoy ports by themselves, occasionally I enjoy them with dark chocholates, too -- also mostly in the low 70% cocoa range (the 80%+ is just too chalky for me.. or maybe I just haven't had a good one). My usual turn-to's have been Valrhona, though yesterday, I just got turned on t...

Ryan, thanks for sharing! The interview is an insightful read.

Roy, thanks for continuing to freely offer your in depth coverage of Port!

Fred, nice one on opening the thread! On an LBV craving, I opened a 1998 Niepoort Unfiltered LBV. I thought it had a very pleasant balance of sweetness and structure with a decently long finish. Fruity... blackberries on nose and a bit of spice on the palette -- a hint of spirit. Sorry to use such a...

Actually, this past weekend, I enjoyed a very tasty 98 Niepoort LBV -- an all-round enjoyable port that's just pleasant with a decently long finish. So, depending on what characteristics you enjoy, I wouldn't stay away from the 98's.

Hi Dorene! Another good point! I enjoy just trying bottles out when I catch a VP bug and when my wallet allows. While WS ratings have proven to be a reasonably good guideline for me most of the time, I've found that I only use them as rough pointers. The way I look at it is, I won't know unless I tr...

Hmmmm... thanks for the thoughts Roy and Jay. Those are all very good points that I hadn't thought about -- especially, since I wouldn't know how the bottle has been kept for the last 40-50 years. Roy, IIRC, I saw a few 63/66's several months ago at K&L (I think) going for $130-180 range, with a...

I've thrown in for some Fonseca and Croft to cellar, but am saving most of my share of wallet to purchase some drinkable bottles for when I want to consume them. Doing the numbers, I'll probably not dive in deep into VP's, but instead, pay a bit more for some really nice old VP's. (I think I'm just ...

So I took a look at what has transpired here since the launch on Saturday. There are now 51 registered voters, and 22 of us have no yet posted. Although that is a better ratio, there is still almost 40% of the guest here who are just coming to read. Looking at this another way, there have been 165 ...