For The Love Of Port

I rarey, if ever venture into the secondary market for wine, so I only rarely acquire older bottles. That said I do have a '77 Warre's along with a smattering of early/mid '80s wines. Everything else is 1991 or newer which is why I don't post many tastng notes from my own cellar. It needs time, lots...

Declarations like 1975 aside, there's real place for the lesser years. Unless one is blessed with a cellar bequeathed by a late relative, or has boundless faith in the provenance of wines in the secondary market, the minor vintages offer an opportunity to enjoy a good drink sooner. I would actually ...

The Fonseca is my undisputed favorite of the vintage. I really like the Dow as well, but I have a soft spot for Dow in general.

Sometimes it's nice to have wines that are not monuments. I have a few 1991s which don't tug at my heart strings when I open them. That's really not so bad.

David Bueker - back after a long, forgotten login/passoword hiatus!

Virtually all of my Port drinking is done with my wife (who loves even young vintage Port, despite her hatred of tannin), or sometimes with a small group of Port loving friends.

About 4 years ago I opened my lone bottle of this wine, and it still ranks as one of the best Ports I have ever had. Perhaps I either had a better bottle, or mine was further along the maturity curve, but it was about a 105 pt experience for me.

Thanks very much. I have actually never opened a Vesuvio, despite having several bottles in the cellar. Of course now I will just leave them there, but it's good info nonetheless.

Currently looking at a mag of 1997 Fonseca. Is $153 a decent price? It's been a while since I shopped around.

Generally similar advice for other major 1997s? I have been eying both Dow & Graham lately.

I've had the '77 Warre about 6 times over the last 10 years, and the one thing that I can say about it almost universally is: unconvincing. Had it again last night with about 6 hours of double decanting back to the bottle. Pale ruby color (perhaps a slight touch of pink & orange on the very edge...

Not so much that I thought they would gain from cellaring, but that I have more than I need for short-term consumption. I'm glad they won't just fall over dead.

Over the last few years I have accumulated several bottles of Taylor-Fladgate 20 and 30 year old tawny (mainly gifts, though I bought two). Most are bottled in 2005, though a couple of are from 2004. I seem to recall comments about drinking these wines within 2 years of bottling, but is that really ...

Thank you for the warm welcome. I really enjoy drinking Port, so I hope to spend a little of my (meager) free time around here. Perhaps it will spur me to try some things I have been hiding in the cellar, great, good and interesting.

Hi Andy,

I actually wasn't planning on opening these. I had thought of doing '77 Warre or '91 Graham, but since we were taking the wine on a 4 hour car journey with virtually no time to rest before opening I thought a younger wine would show better. Worked out well - at least after 30 hours.

Beth Sheligo hosted a "dark dessert wines" tasting last Friday, and my contribution ot the evening was a bottles each of the 2000 Graham's and 2000 Fonseca vintage port. The tasting began at 7:30 PM, the Ports were not served until after 9, and I had opened them at about 4:30. I thought ab...