For The Love Of Port

2005 Croft Porto Vintage Quinta da Roeda - Portugal, Douro, Porto (8/22/2010) TN: Croft Porto 2005, Quinta da Roeda; 20 pabv. $31.50 after double discount; 7x750 ml purchased 7/26/2010. Bottled by Quinta and Vineyard Bottlers, Vinhos, SA. (Guimaerens, I think.) Featuring Strawberry Tree label, Arbu...

My only question now is if I should crack the seventh (baseline) bottle I bought for tasting. I suppose I could have things both way--that is, open the bottle, fill a tenth-size bottle from it, and enjoy the remainder. I do have some experience with Croft, but not with what has been released since t...

Any big name vintage under $40 is a good buy. Wow, 14%...what's up with that? Moses, it's what we call in Ohio a sales tax. Actually, it's a penalty we levy on businesses and consumers dumb enough to do business in Ohio, and to cause increased unemployment among state workers and bureaucrats. As a ...

You all may know that I am a Riesling rat that dabbles in port for those times when nothing else will do. Last month I found, surprisingly, a good merchant in my region who had half-cases of Croft Roeda 2005 for $189. Yesterday I was back, and made an impulse purchase of a half-case in wood plus a b...

I believe that the entire 100 point scale is more an exercise in lemming psychology than anything meaningful. That last point--from 99 to 100--is worth many times more than the one that takes us from 90 to 91. The math is logarithmic, and any perfect score is a contradiction in terms. If I were to i...

I see that Rare Wine, who seems to have some good overseas connection, has some cases of 1983 Dow ex a club cellar at $79.95 FOB San Francisco ($895 a case--OWC available) today on their email only list--I seem to remember this being a RH 93 scorer. Worth checking out? Vinfolio is the only one who h...

1.35 kilo is a better average for full bottles of port. 85.725 pounds, then, and 342.9 pounds per square inch , or 171.45 pounds per square inch if stacked in the more conservative second way. Amazing when you think that this is like balancing a platform holding 2 average sized men balancing on a s...

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Assuming this stack is 25 bottles in height, and that each bottle masses 1 kg (2.54 lb), and that the contact area between the bottom bottle and the one just above it is eight inches by i/32 inch (reasonable assumptions, I think), and neglecting the mass of the shims, I'd guess that over an area of ...

Is it true that Tiger Williams is the first man in history to have a class-action palimony suit filed against him?

Thanks, David. Did you see the price?

There is a very old boal or malmsey of this series which has lost its vintage information and so is just called 'very old', still on the market. The notes on it show it to be of similar style and quality.

12/4/2007 TN: Henriques & Henriques Special Reserve Madeira Grand Old Boal Vintage 1860, first bottled 1927 and re-bottled 1955. $180/1 pt and 9 floz at Arrow Wine Co; Centerville, Ohio, August, 2007. From a bottling for The Hammer Co; Cleveland, OH. Bottle number 340 out of 353 bottles (actual ...

Was this the 1977 bottling of the 1952 for the Silver Jubilee of the Coronation of Elizabeth II?

Was this the 1977 Royal Silver Jubilee bottling for Elizabeth II?

Alan, I just read your note to Barbara and she let out a great guffaw. Actually you're right--you told me about your plans for the ashes and the reasoning in August--but the Madiera resuscitation demise scheme in the living will is something new to me. Didn't know you loved Madiera, as I do very muc...

Hi John, Yes - about 3-4 years ago, so I'm not sure if they are still selling the same bottling. However, both examples I tried this year were open different lengths of time. The first (with the 'orange cream with lime peel' had been open a lot longer (5-6 hours if I recall correctly), whereas the ...

My information is that a 'viticulturalist' is a vine-grower. Does this individual actually tend vines? The short answer is generally yes. A friend of mine is the viticulturist for a winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains and his job is to plant, replant, grow, manage the vineyards, supervise workers, w...

Unfortunately the balance of this wine was lost to me in a divorce proceeding. Tiger Woods problems seem insignificant compared to this [dash1.gif] I'm not sure Tiger is any more passionate about his putters or his game than I am about wine, so the loss of the Fonseca hurt. At least I probably spen...

It's also possible I'll find a couple bottles of 1952 (his birth year) Leacock's from Manny will be the best choice. John, A man who enjoys the best and who was born in 1952 needs a bottle of Dalva Golden White 1952. A few of the guys on your side of the pond may be able to find one. They are now v...

I agree with you, David, concerning the immense quality of the 1970 Fonseca, but my experience was with the Oporto bottling. It's a true Fonseca, with all the lushness this implies, but it's got great complexity and clarity laid out on a trellis of absolutely vibrant and balanced structure. I'd rate...