For The Love Of Port

Hi folks, What’s the situation with fakery in the vintage port world...is it very common? Where are they coming from - China, Portugal? Presumably the forgers go for expensive vintages, so does that mean are we relatively safe when purchasing sub-£100 bottles? In terms of protecting ourselves, I sup...

When you talk about surface area relative to total volume, a regular decanter or carafe will be quite small. A ships decanter is the opposite. Where does one find "mini" ships decanter? Or a magnum one? I have a range of stoppered mini-ships decanters. This one is amazing value, just £18,...

Don't think it makes that much difference, unless in decanter for more than a day or two. The aeration of wine oxygenates far more than just the exposure of a smallish surface area in a decanter. A ship's decanter may do better. Ships decanter - is there any other decanter for port? I thought it wa...

Once it's in the decanter very little aeration happens as there is only a small surface area on top that is exposed. Are you suggesting that once its in the decanter then it’s not going to change much? We all know that’s not true from experience, so what is it you’re trying to say? In my experiment...

I did an experiment last month, and my conclusion is that there is a *vast* difference between using a stopper and not. This may be due to a difference in evaporation rates. I encourage others to test and report back their experiences. Here’s mine: I opened a bottle of 2011 Fonseca LBV and poured it...

...what’s your preference? What rules of thumb do you use when deciding (a) when not to stopper and (b) differences in decanting profiles/times between the two?

I’m curious to know if there are any accepted DEFINING characteristics in the style of VINTAGE PORT between the major shippers/producers and what these defining characteristics are. Can anyone help? What defining characteristics go through your mind when you consider the various producers? Are there...

In 2017, whilst doing a comparison of all twenty of my 2011 vintage ports (using Coravin), I noticed that the Sandeman’s had the incredible aroma of a Bordeaux on steroids and the taste didn’t disappoint either. Therefore, shortly afterwards I paired it with a featherblade steak and a few months lat...

I've been checking out aroma kits to improve my recall and recognition of the different aromas in port wines. Three questions: 1) Which set do you think is best for port? (see list below) 2) Aromaster allows you to make a bespoke kit of 24 aromas from a selection of 100. Which ones would you choose?...

In your notes you've scored Graham's with 18 points, but in your official overall score (that gets counted in the members average), it's listed as only having 15 points (which is what you scored for the Burmeister). Did you get them mixed up?