For The Love Of Port

I've only had the pleasure of meeting one of your relatives (Rupert, in Minneapolis a couple months ago). I've read that most of the Symingtons at SFE are cousins. Could you give us a rundown on how each is related to you (Charles, Rupert, Peter, Johnny, Paul, am I missing anyone?)? With a little s...

where has the old vines myth gone???? I attended a Master Class on Australian wines in Las Vegas a few years ago at which Philip Laffer, long-time winemaker at Jacob's Creek, was one of the panelists. He made an astounding statement about old vines. He said that it is much more likely that the grea...

I've only had the pleasure of meeting one of your relatives (Rupert, in Minneapolis a couple months ago). I've read that most of the Symingtons at SFE are cousins. Could you give us a rundown on how each is related to you (Charles, Rupert, Peter, Johnny, Paul, am I missing anyone?)?

Hi Dom, Thanks for all the inside scoop! A few years ago I ran across this quote from Pedro Branco of Quinta do Portal: “The benefício is a bit of paper that gives a producer the right to add brandy to must, and therefore make Port. Every year you receive a letter telling you how much Port you can m...

David Guimaraens recently stated that the change in 1991, allowing port houses to buy their spirit, has been the single most important factor in the improvement of port quality. Do you agree with this assertion? Could you talk about exactly what the change was, how it came about and how it has impac...

Because a FILTERED LBV, intentionally removes ALL sediment that is in the casks prior to the time of bottling and an UNfiltered one, intentionally leaves all sediment in the Port. That way the filtered LBV will be best when pop n' pour (or decanting for slow oxidation) or for several weeks if store...

Roy, thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Your comments were very helpful. My questions were the result of taking some of the earlier comments to their logical conclusions, which created what I considered to be uncertain cause an effect relationships. I think it's pretty safe to say tha...

Looks like no one's willing to tackle these questions.

I have some questions related to sediment. I’ll start with a couple assumptions which seem to be well accepted: 1) Vintage ports precipitate sediment because they are not fined, filtered, or cold-stabilized. 2) The precipitated sediment consists primarily of tartrates, anthocyanins, and tannins. Her...