For The Love Of Port

Dark color with a little brown tint. The aroma suggests a hint of mustiness, and it isn’t distinctly expressive. There is some old cellar and leather, and it smells of acidity, not balsamic, but possibly a plainer vinegar. It was still musty later, maybe like pot pourri. There is strong Port flavor,...

Dark garnet color. Smells of grape, Concord grape, also with sweet black currant artificial berry, and mulberry. It was still grapy later, and tasted that way too. Sweet and tangy, with some blueberry flavor as well. 92 points. (18 Nov 23)

Best clarity in this group of wines (compared to 1983 Quarels Harris and Dow), with a light garnet hue. Later I noticed a lot of sediment in the bottom of the glass. Subtle aroma with a little spiciness, and dried red fruit roll-up. Light mint. Quite sweet, and not spirity, this does not fit the Tay...

Fairly brown in color on the red-brown spectrum, with some cloudiness and suspended sediment. Totally different than the previously tasted wine (1983 Quarels Harris), with aromas of sweet fruits, cotton candy, caramel, and crème brûlée. (Yes, those aromas came out of a VP!) There was also an aroma l...

Very dark color, with a little brown; overall, garnet. Aroma reveals alcohol warmth, dark fruit, black currant, chocolate, cola, and perhaps sassafras. Nice medium body, with a medium finish. Lots of berry in the flavor, with some orange citrus in the background. Sweeter later, with flavors of boyse...

TCA or some bad funk in the first whiff. This was still there later, leading me to think this was corked. When tasted, I got retronasal TCA effects. Not scored. (18 Nov 23)

Deep dark wood aroma, mahogany with varnish; along with some old candy, possible fig, and prune. When tasted, it was thicker bodied than the first wine (1963 Cockburn), with leather, mint, and alcohol warmth. Coating the mouth, this has a long finish, but there is not enough interesting flavor there...

Chemical aroma, and musty; but both of these are light. Also smells of cherry Sucrets, black pepper, and orange; and the chemical character is fading. There is some darker red fruit too, dried black plum, and some cinnamon. The taste is really spicy, with cinnamon and dates. Medium bodied and reason...

It is going to be tough no matter what. My inclination is (A) thinking of a large age range like 1970-present. In this case the palate killing would be large, and that 1970 subtle. But let's say this is a tight vertical of younger wines, like 2011-2021. The palate killing will be less of a factor, a...

I find this one surprising for just a 10 year old. I would have expected the color and flavor to be more red fruit based. Did it seem baked at all? Do you think there were white grapes in the blend?

(Tasted blind. A brand by Vieira de Sousa. Bottled June, 2023.) Smells sweet and nutty, with brown sugar and some floral perfume. Swirling gives some spirit; and later there were aromas of cinnamon, red hot candy, and a small bit of mustiness. Also suggests a Jolly Rancher candy. The initial sip tas...

Smells of cinnamon and apple, like a tarte tatin. Swirling gives some sugar and toffee. Tastes like a caramel wine syrup, apple pie in a glass. Later there were some leather and pineapple notes. A wonderful wine. 94 points. (17 Nov 23)

Very dark red with just a hint of brown at the edge. The aroma is buttery with some chemical character, spirited, leathery, and a bit like varnish. Then the aroma suggests some sweet candy. The flavor is really sweet, juicy, and fruity, with red plum, dark berry, and butter as well. Tastes of mulber...

Borrowed from Glenn in another thread, the address:
R. das Flores 60, 4050-265 Porto, Portugal

And consistent with Frederick's comment, if you look on Google street view, that building was quite derelict before.

But I just checked that link and "it's not currently working" - it WAS working in April (I haven't checked Wayback Machine to see if it survives there). At the moment, I'm not finding any links to Garrafeira Nacional working, even the root link from Google. I hit this problem last week wh...

Glenn E. wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:54 am Math is hard.

So are you asking if we take fresh cod and salt and dry it to make bacalau, or use already dried/salted bacalau and then prepare it in some way? The latter I've done, but the bacalau was very expensive here in Colorado, so I think I've only done it once. Your question sounds more like the former, wh...

Oh, and finished this off tonight. Really was nice for such an aged wine.
1984 Caves São João Dão Porta dos Cavaleiros Reserva Branco

1991 Andresen Colheita How was it? I really like their Colheitas. Really good. I opened this to go with dessert at the end of an Easter dinner, and didn't take notes. Roughly I'd say it wasn't as good as S.Leonardo 40 (just had one of those, which of course costs more too), but lived up to my expec...

2016 Quinta do Vale Meão Douro Meandro 2016 Quinta do Vale Meão Douro Tasted these side-by-side, blind. I knew what they were, but not which was which. Others had no idea other than Portuguese. The first is a ~$20 wine, the second a ~$120. I actually preferred the Meandro, while the other three peop...