For The Love Of Port

Reporting on a very smooth transaction with Tom - bottles perfectly packaged and excellent communication. Thanks!

[...]His latest move was to be the first Portuguese producer to NOT use cork[...] Roy, I don't think he has not been the first to do that, and one of the reasons why this move of his has been so exposed in the press is perhaps because he is a controversial figure in the first place. Quinta do Caste...

jon bricken wrote:I have noticed that when I bring a wine to someones house for dinner the trip effects the wine negatively.

In the case of wines that have sediment, like vintage port, does decanting in advance have a positive effect in minimising travel shock?

Isn't the choice of stemware a much more likely culprit?

I am one of the lurkers Just to confirm that I am in for this virtual tasting - I will stop tonight by Tesco's and buy a bottle... Thanks for organizing!

Alex and Andy,

Thank you so much for the feedback. It sounds like the bottle is not worth the 32 GBP they are asking...

Does anyone have background information on this shipper/producer? And tasting notes/impressions on their 1970 VP? Thanks!

Me too, but I got two!

Johnny7 wrote:Just got a bottle of Warres 1999 LBV , bottled in 2005, reduced from £9.99 to £5.99 at Tescos.

How much did you pay for this Port? I have a local wine shop selling both the 95 and the 96 for £32; the 97 costs £44. I wonder which one of these would you recommend? I have very little experience with VP, and cannot find anything older than this for the amount of money I am willing to spend...

Yes, I do agree with you on the impact of these ratings on the prices! What I think is amiss in that article is that they did not try to separate personal taste from good or bad winemaking. It's clear the wines did not please the tasters, but why? How were the wines flawed? It doesn't seem fair to d...

This is a bit off-topic, but I did write in a different thread that an unfiltered LBV was better the day after the bottle was opened. In retrospect, I can now understand why: I bought the bottle, brought it home, which meant a lot of shaking and stirring, and opened it almost immediately, without le...

[...]If you have a local wine merchant who you buy from or through, then talk to them about storing your wine for you. If you do go this route though, drop me a PM and I will tell you of the pitfalls that you need to work around - not difficult if you're prepared for them. Alex, everytime I tried t...

Thanks for the advice Alex, I indeed bought two bottles of the aforementioned LBV. Looking forward to tasting it...

This is a shop based in R Conceicao da Gloria, 28 in Lisbon. Its been recommended to me as a place to visit if ever I am in Lisbon and need somewhere to be able to buy "hard to find" bottles of wine. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of this shop? Thanks Alex Hi Alex, in Lisbon...

Has anyone read the Decanter's February issue? In this issue there is a Douro reds panel tasting, and the conclusions are far from being positive. One of the members of the panel went as far as saying that he has ``never been to a tasting at Decanter with so much bad winemaking'', and I quote. What ...

My local Sainsbury's has Dow's 1999 LBV at GBP6.99, discounted from GBP9.99. Is it a good deal? Couldn't find any comments on this LBV by searching the board...

Thanks a lot Peter.

I know this topic has already been discussed in some threads, notably here, but I would expect members to have more suggestions... So, I am asking again:

which books do you have on your shelves about Porto, which ones do you like, and which ones you don't?

The wine is definitely better on day two, and I can clearly detect the tannins and the overwhelming fruit that has been mentioned by some. Quite interesting experience - for me anyway!

Thanks!

Thanks for all the responses. I understand that my palate needs a lot of Porto education, I too cannot identify a tannic structure. I do agree on the delayed finale that was mentioned, and I feel that the wine lacks in concentration. Furthermore, there is this impression that it is not integrated, s...