For The Love Of Port

Has a bottle been lovingly cellared, or left in a garden shed where temperatures rocket and fall every day? The standard tests are to check the level and look for seepage and raised corks. An oft repeated "test" is to try to spin the capsule, but in my experiance, most capsules will not sp...

Before the bottling went 100% Portuguese, there seems to have been some prejudice against wines bottled in Oporto, although today, prices seem virtually identical. I personally feel more confident in the provenance of Oporto bottlings, but have never made any back to back comparisons. What do others...

Rain is at last forecast - a weather system is sweeping across the Bay of Biscay, and the CNN forecast for Vila Real is rain for Tuesday (6th).

The satellite photo suggests the rain may be modest however.

Ask him to put me on his mailing list when he next does something similar in London!

A small note of caution - from painful experience.. When using the Ah-so type on a bottle with a tight cork that is quite flush, and you are having to use some force to get started... ...it is not impossible for the tine of the Ah-so to skid off the top of the bottle and into the side of your hand t...

Stuart, your comparison with the '60's is interesting. The '60 vintage also came after four poor years, and by the spring of '62 when the declaration was made, it would have been apparent that the '61's were not going to be better. The resulting vintage was relatively lightweight, but ultimately wel...

Either Taylors want a sous marque or this is the end of Osborne as a port brand.

Looking at the numbers, the latter seems more likely

I personally decant by eye, letting the bottle stand unmoved for a day, and then removing the cork very carefully to avoid disturbance. I don't find a candle necessary when decanting. As soon as the first particles appear I transfer from decanter to a glass, and pour a small shot to taste. The rest ...

Mayson's new edition arrived today, and is much more than an update, with many more producers included.

If you enjoyed the first edition, buy the second.

Jason,

By dating NV's like Crusted and LBV, the producers are spared the obligation of making every batch taste exactly like the previous one - an obligation that can only be satisfied by making the blend somewhat bland and mediocre.

Jason, Crusted ports carry the bottling date. Unlike vintage and LBV they can (and usually do) have wine of more than one vintage, which enables producers to compensate for deficiencies in a particular vintage. They also spend more time in wood than LBV's (which often live their lives in stainless s...

My most recent indulgence has been a bottle of Churchill 2000 crusted - a little young and raw, but very enjoyable. I will let most of the remaining bottles sit it out for another five years or so before I drink them. This style of port seems to be a victim of fashion - is it the absence of the word...

I note that Robertson's Rebello Valente was primarily sourced from Qta de la Rosa.

Rosa went solo in the mid eighties after RV began to lose it's reputation - believing that they could do a better job as an independant.

Most commentators agree that this has proved to be the case.

Stuart, there is a little bit of magic that you need to factor in. Cellars are wonderfully quiet stress-free places, neither cold in winter nor hot in summer, and always just a little bit musty, but not unpleasantly so. And as often as not, they are the private domain of a single person, while the r...

Well Richard, I'm not shy, and if this forum enriches the minds of others then so much the better. However, It would be nice to see more participation from those who work full time in the industry - maybe they number amongst the "viewers"... - Come on down Mr Symington - we'd love to hear ...

The Portuguese name for Oporto is Porto - same as the wine. The reason the US market uses the name Porto is to distinguish between the real product and other fortified reds, whose manufacturers resisted the protests of the Portuguese producers at the use of the name Port. In the UK it is almost impo...

As we approach September, we enter the most critical part of the season. I am hoping that there are other contributors to this forum who are either on the ground in the Douro, or who are in close contact with people who are. My most recent information says that the big fires are out, but new ones ar...

Interesting comment Simon, It is possible that this year has been written off too quickly - "too much knowledge" - is a phrase that comes to mind! I don't have any 75's in my cellar to try now, and whilst I am not good at collating my notes, the phrase "fading gracefully" sticks ...

While we all like a bargain, I regard my collection of VP to be a hobby - not an investment. I would be surprised if the 2003 en primeur prices are followed by significantly higher prices in the future. I tend to the view that this year's VP prices are a little bit high. There are plenty of consumer...

While the restaurants keep up a demand for half bottles, magnums seem to be fading into history.

Has anyone got a jeroboam in their cellar??