For The Love Of Port

Adrian: Great meeting you on Roy's tour. On the visit I first heard of Croft Serikos and purchased a bottle that day. For years, vintage Port was the crown jewel of each house. Do you see a trend toward each house creating a special cuvee of vintage Port such as the Croft Serikos and Graham Stone T...

Adrian, Thank you for taking the time to answer so many questions. Of course you have a demanding day job, and a personal life so devoting so much time answering our questions is appreciated. I'm somewhat new to being serious about Port although I remember years ago having the odd glass of Port fro...

Dear Adrian, Thank-you very much for this wonderful opportunity to ask you questions. First question: Do you have a favorite Port outside of the Fladgate Partnership portfolio (my sincere apologies if this question is too sacrilegious!)? Or maybe to ask a different way, what’s one Port you wish you...

Hi Adrian! I have read your comments regarding Beneficio related to ports and Douro wines. We are seeing that companies which started off as port companies, now have a significant share of their business in the Douro wines (such as Ramos Pinto and Niepoort). In spite of your Beneficio-comments are ...

Dear Adrian, related to TOURISM: observing that Porto/Douro has been really getting a major increase of visitors during these recent years, I wonder whether tourists from ASIA and specifically from CHINA are making any significant impact on the Port Wine industry. Moreover, I confess I'm also wonde...

Dear Adrian One last question from me concerns the history of the names of the Port Shippers. The Fladgate Partnership has some high profile names in their portfolio — Taylor, Fonseca, Krohn and Croft, and we see Skeffington from time to time in the UK. I know at one time the Morgan Brothers label ...

Hi Adrian, When TFP purchased Wiese & Krohn you received some very old Tawny Ports in the purchase. One of these - the 1863 - has since been released. I was wondering if you have any plans (that you can talk about!) for 2 others that several people here at FTLOP have been lucky enough to taste ...

Dear Adrian, I know you are quite active in regards to climate change issues but I am not sure most readers are aware how much TFP has done. Can you tell us what things your company (bottling facilities, Quinta's, etc) has done already to become more "Green"? Such as solar, water recyclin...

I should probably have placed a 'BAND WAGON' alert before my reply to Stewart. :)

Hi Adrian - Great to see you here, and thanks for taking the time to answer some questions from the FTLOP crowd! I know that you and others in the trade have been instrumental in driving changes in regulations - large format bottles, sealos, etc. What regulations would you like to see changed next ...

Adrian, My question is about the dreaded screw cap (joking about the dreaded part). While it's probably safe to say they won't be making a mainstream debut with VP anytime soon, has TFP done any longer term experiments with screw caps and VP? If so, how have the results been compared to the same vi...

Dear Adrian, Thank you for the many responses so far, it has been wonderful for all of us to learn during the first half of your time with us. Also, our sincere thanks for the photos of WoW! For those of us with a missed opportunity to see it in person with you due to the downpour in September and ...

If I was buying some cases to have wines to celebrate an anniversary (birth of child, marriage etc.) I would probably buy a mix of sizes. Dear Adrian, Are you considering the introdution of a "futures" type product that would allow people to buy these on the year of their celebratory even...

Dear Mr. Bridge. First of all thank you for your kind Taylor Fladgate Christmas card :-) During the years I have bought a handful of your delicious Taylor's Atlantic Port Old Tawny (please see the enclosed picture) - probably bottled in the 1970'ies. Can you please tell me a little bit about this P...

Adrian When I was last in the Yeatman I spent a couple of hours looking at your glass collection in the cabinets next to Dick’s Bar. I am a history nut (when I can find the time) and found it extremely interesting to look at. What first started you collecting glasses from the past and which piece g...

Dear Adrian: It was a pleasure to meet you during my recent port wine tour, thanks for being such a gracious host. First and foremost Kudos to all the wine producers. I wish to congratulate an encourage you to keep up the good work and understand that what you do is more labour of love rather than ...

Dear Adrian, My wife and I are visiting Oporto for São João and I was hoping against hope that we might have been able to be one of the first visitors to the World of Wine. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to head back in September. Life can be unfair. But to whet the appetite, could you say a littl...

Dear Adrian, With the lowering of the levels of "Lei do Terço" by the IVDP regulation for a new company, which in the past needed stocks of 150,000 liters of Port in order to enter the Port trade; (the new level is now 75,000 liters). How do you view this change for new companies and the ...

Dear Adrian, Two years ago, regulations loosened and the Duriense grape growers were no longer restricted from charging "whatever the market would bear" for grapes to be used for Port production; whereas in the past the pricing was far more controlled. a. Does this also apply to Douro sti...

Would you care to comment on the rate of maturation of VP in half-bottles and magnums vs the regular 750 ml bottles? Do you think there is some rule of thumb that could be applied about accelerated or delayed maturation? Is it different for different vintages? Dear Jonathan I think that the evidenc...