For The Love Of Port

NIepoort Charme 2021: 2021 was a great year for table wines in the Douro. This one comes with low saturation ruby/garnet color. The nose is complex and intense. Notes of red fruits, truffle and spices. On the palate the same aromatic intensity is present, the finish is extremely long too. But, it d...

Checking on a 2011 Ramos Pinto Vintage . Like many 2011, this is aging really slowly. Still quite tannic and on its primary fruit flavours. I'll need to be more patient :) I think 2011 is going to go down as one of the best vintages for Port in a very long time. There was also a lot of hype about 2...

Checking on a 2011 Ramos Pinto Vintage. Like many 2011, this is aging really slowly. Still quite tannic and on its primary fruit flavours. I'll need to be more patient :)

Niepoort Vertente 2018 2018 has always missed a touch of acidity for me, notheless, it is drinking smoothly, still full of fruits and touch of spices. Always a great QPR wine from the Douro in in this fresh style.

Taylor's just keep on making acquisitions!

I don't remember if it was reported here, but also earlier this year they acquired the distributing and wine education company Direct Wines in Porto.

Someone else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD3VMAm-9iA I'm told with proper training, you don't sacrifice your voice. I'm really impressed on how Youtube is able to generate subtitles from such "music" or noise ahaha. In the same vein as Maiden, there are a lot of alternatives in Europ...

Google translate says “Invalido” is Italian. So possibly made for that market. Based on the name and tonic I’d lean toward it being something with tonic and quinine in it. I’d guess it is rather old. There were many producers releasing an "invalid" Port(Niepoort, Sandeman, Feist, Offley, ...

Here is what Bartholomew had to say : There are some bottles of Quinta do Crasto from the 1800 but those were probably limited bottlings for the family. I became the importer of Quinta do Crasto in 1996 but we were selling wines from the 1985 vintage. At the time, Cristiano Van Zeller was managing t...

Interesting! I thought that the Crasto brand only started in the 90's...Do you know the story behind this? The back label says they were imported by Broadbent Imports (which is no longer their importer). A friend found them in 2009 in Las Vegas for $33.00/each. Other than that, I don’t know the sto...

Don’t forget it was only Vintage Port which had to be bottled in Portugal before being exported. Other types of Port could be bottled outside Portugal until the 1990s - I have 1993 in mind, but that’s just my memory talking. I don't remember the dates exactly either, I used to, now I'm getting old ...

Interesting! I thought that the Crasto brand only started in the 90's...Do you know the story behind this?

Eric Ifune wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:16 pm Also a big fan. I sitting a bunch of the 2011 Garrafeiria. I think they'll need a lot of time

The 2012? It was the first year. I think they can be drunk now but they will last for quite a few years! I still have a couple as well.

I'm a big fan of this. The Bairrada wines can age so slowly with their acidity and thight but fine tannins. I had the 2012 recently and it still can age.

Let's see!

I'd say you can decant 1-2 hours before service. I had Vargellas pop and pour recently and it was already very good!

I did open a Vintage 2015 from Niepoort. First of 6, still pretty young and expressive, classy and pure, great balance, it does feel dryer than it is. I'll try to be patient with the others :)

It reminds me of the Delaforce deal. The stocks went one way while the brand went another way. The final consumer has really no idea of the stocks behind the brand, and they probably don't care. Let's not forget, we are the 1%.... what the 99% sees is completely different than our reality. I would a...

Recently... Quevedo Vale D'Agodinho 2013 Vintage , one of my favorite, a pure blackberry and blackcurrant profile, tannins are getting smooth, a dryer style that I really enjoy, the bottle got emptied very quickly! Vargellas 2001 VP from half bottle : Drinking superbly at the moment, I'd look for mo...

I don't remember the name of the product, but you add it to the wine and mix. I was in a winery, the barrel was smelling TCA, it is was contaminated. The winemaker offered me a glass and asked me if there was anything wrong with the wine. I said ''nothing wrong, but it is not a great wine''. Then he...

Cork TCA is definitively going down. I remember when I started drinking and collecting wines over 20 years ago, I would get one bottle corked per 2 weeks minimum. It was easily 3-5% of faulty wines. Nowadays, from what I drink, I'd say less than 1%. Yes wineries can introduce the flaw. Actually, rec...

Yummy, that special reserve white!!! I wish I could taste this again!